Research and planning
Key:
The first film that we watched was called 'The Fly' and is a black comedy short film directed by Jack Doolan. The film focuses on a bank robbery and a scenario that a protagonist wouldn't normally be in. The fly is ultimately a story of karmic revenge, a cat and mouse game where nobody knows who is playing the cat, and who should be the one attending anger management sessions. A man sits at the wheel of a getaway car outside of a small bank in a town, checking his surroundings every second and fiddling with objects in the car such as a toothpick and his watch, showing all the signs of a man who is paranoid and anxious at his situation. As he drums his fingertips on the wheel, a fly buzzes onto his windshield in front of him, this sparks an unexpected reaction from him. He kills the fly with his windscreen wipers like a cat ready to pounce. With this, he grins like a child at his achievement and we hear the bloodcurdling sounds of gunshots being fired within the bank. Back in the car, we see the fly come back for vengeance to torment the man. It ensues into a comedic and violent brawl between man and fly, leaving the driver a hysterical mess. The rest of his crew emerge from the noise, concealed by masks and injured, as the audience, we are unable to see whether they make a clean getaway.
This short film is set in a typical south London kebab shop, and two friends joke about why they shouldn't eat the beef burgers. The Ellington kid is a dark comedy, and is clearly shown by a real life crime being turnt into an old wives tale to be told to anyone who eats the burgers. It manages to shed light on real life problems that occur in todays society, this short film focuses on gang violence, and although this is a very sensitive subject, they manage to add comedy through the two main protagonists. "Two friends sit in a kebab shop in London. One tells the other a story he'd heard about a boy who'd recently been stabbed by a gang in the street. He'd staggered into the very kebab shop they are sitting in, desperately looking for somewhere to hide, pursued by the gang, looking to finish him off. But the gang hadn't thought about the shop's owners..." - IMDb.
DRAMEDY: a television programme or film in which the serious and comic elements derive mainly from character and plot development. A hybrid genre. A dramedy is a hybrid genre that contains both comedic aspects and of course drama as its main genre. I decided to use this in my own film as I wanted a light hearted, dramedy that reflects my ideas and own self interests and to touch on subjects that are important through comedy and drama at the same time.
This was a quote that i found whilst searching for ways to convey onomatopoeia in my film, if it was from making actual sounds behind the camera, adding effects onto the screen, or just by pre-recording the sounds by using twigs and clown horns, the article gave lots of information that i hoped to use in my own short film. Another quote that resonated with me was this, "Berkey and his team tore apart chicken and turkey carcasses and also layered the sounds of cracking nuts". Obviously I'm not going to act like a prehistoric animal and rip apart chicken carcasses, but it hints at how I wanted to create my own onomatopoeia through creating sounds behind the camera for the main protagonists 'powers'.
BALANCE: When looking at onomatopoeia, I researched into different comic book heroes and protagonists that had a balanced relationship with themselves. A prime example of this is Spider mans persona. he has the one side which is spider man, and the other side of him which is Peter Parker. the idea of balance shows that if he is Peter Parker for too long, the world is in danger, and if he is spider man too long then people wonder what has happened to Peter Parker. It focuses mainly on the idea of "with great power comes great responsibility". In the comics and the films, Peter Parker uses his powers to earn money in a boxing club and in turn, the fact that he is detaching from using his powers for good, his uncle Ben dies. As harsh as it sounds, a double persona is never the best way to be for a superhero, it is seemingly difficult to balance out both of their personalities.
RICHARD DYER'S STAR THEORY: my coursework teacher explained this theory to me on the 15th March 2019 and links to the overall idea of balance and how hard it can be to maintain. This is a quote from an online article that I researched on this theory:
"Star theory refers to the idea that celebrities are commodities manufactured by institutions. Dyer believes that celebrities are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real emotions in order to relate to audiences and sell products such as films or music. An example of this is Marilyn Monroe (the celebrity) who was controlled by film companies (the institution) in order to create an icon and attract audiences to the films they were making and therefore making money for the company."
THE HEROES JOURNEY: The heroes journey was also a concept that I was introduced to on the 15th March 2019 and shows the journey that the main protagonist has to go through in order to get the resolution and rewards that they so desire. In my short films case, the characters call to adventure is his powers, the mentor is his sidekick Amelia that was are immediately introduced to in the start of the film, he crosses the threshold as things start to go wrong with his powers, he has trail and failures when he speaks to Amelia in the forest about is powers and what he can do to deal with them, this leads to his growth as he is suddenly encouraged and feels that he can do anything with his helper of Amelia his best friend, this then leads to the death and rebirth of Bryan in the party scene when everything goes wrong again and this also acts as the revelation that he so desires, and he wants the gift of the girl but doesn't get it as no one accepts him so it ends with just him and his best friend/sidekick having fun and not working about anyone. Confusing I know but it makes sense to me! Change of plan, the new structure of the heroes journey in my film is he witnesses a mugging as a young boy and wants to be hero after seeing a real life hero in action. He then grows up and witnesses a mugging again, he wants to be a hero still so he goes to rescue the old lay, only to be beaten up by the muggers and rescued by the superhero he saw when he was a boy, they go and eat something, with the older hero explaining what to do and leaving him. Peter then wants to test his new powers at home, laughing and joking with himself until he falls in love with a girl and fails to get with her because of his powers. This then causes him to go on a downwards spiral and tries to kill himself, only to be stopped by the kind words of Mitch, this then teaches the lesson that anyone can be s hero, no matter the consequence and how its good to be different.
BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL: I would love to use this theme in my film as it would really deviate from the usual and stick to the pastiche theme that I was going for and would show that the superhero underlay of my film and make sure it is not explicitly seen but rather implicitly seen by the audience. I found a video on YouTube that helped to explain the concept of fourth wall breaking and how to incorporate it without using it too much. I may nit actually use this in my film, but it ties with the pastiche theme that I wanted and would allow me to explore further into what makes a pastiche superhero film! You all know the "Hi I'm so and so, you may be wondering how I got into this situation..."
SO BAD ITS GOOD: this may sound terrible, but when I was researching into films with a few friends and family members, I thought that when making a film it has to be bad to be good if you know what I mean. It makes no sense at all, but when looking at films like 'The mark of zorro', 'Baby driver', 'Deadpool', superhero films and old westerns, each of the films are so "bad" that they are good, the comedic elements, the drama, the music, the stupid characters, the criticism from passive and weak minded audiences (bit controversial), these are all things that make the films good! I saw this video on YouTube that explained the whole concept of 'so bad its good' and shows how films that are comedic, pastiche and all round silly, reel in the audiences. "Oh Hi MaRk" -->
CALL BACK HUMOR: a callback, in terms of comedy, is a joke that refers to something said earlier on in the film. For example, the scene in Shaun of the dead where Shaun visits the same shop every morning, he opens a fridge with what he needs inside of it, just normally, and then later on in the film the same scene happens, but this time, there is bloody hand prints all over the fridge door, Shaun being completely oblivious to it. That wasn't the best example, but throughout the entirety of the film, these callback jokes are the main focus. Another one was where Ed is playing a video game and Shaun peers over his shoulder with a set of dialogue about how much of a good shot he was, and this exact dialouge is then repeated again when the apocalypse is in full force and this time it comes from Ed who is telling Shaun how good he is with a real life gun in the pub. Another example of this in the film is the farting that comes from Ed throughout the film even in times of peril. In the beginning of the film, Ed apologises to Shaun with Shaun telling him to not worry, with then Ed saying that he is really sorry and then Shaun holds his nose and gags at the fart from Ed. This then happens again at the ending of the film when Ed trys to help Shaun and his girlfriend escape and he gets bitten by a zombie. This causes Shaun to cry and be upset at his dying best friend, with it ending up with him laughing as Ed repeats the same dialogue and farts again, being the final comedic scene shared between the two. Edgar Wrights films are so jam packed with techniques! This is why he is my favourite director.
This is a particular set of questions that I thought was interesting:
Who Is Your Target Audience: Action Steps:
1. Who is your primary target audience?
Ex: Mid-west, male college kids who love zombie movies.
2. What makes your movie different from competing movies?
Ex: Our movie is about zombies that attack ninjas.
3. Why should your audience spend two hours watching your movie?
Ex: Fan club says: Funniest zombie movie since Shaun of the Dead!
I mean obviously I'm not going to have zombies in my film that attack ninjas, but you get the point I was trying to get across. I knew that my film would fall between 12A and 15 as an age rating, due to the fact that there would be moderate swearing and only one scene of unseen 'violence', so I began to search for examples of films and TV shows that have these ratings.
My own film: Action Steps:
1. Who is your primary target audience?
My film: Young adults/teenagers who love films like Ferris Bueler and Bill and Ted, you know, the silly teen dramedy's. and the people who are fans of pastiche superhero films like Deadpool and Guardians of the galaxy.
2. What makes your movie different from competing movies?
My film: My film is about two young adults/teenagers who are battling through a sound effect origin story, and enhancing their friendship throughout.
3. Why should your audience spend minutes or hours of their lives watching your film?
My film: The combination of conflict, friendship and comedy are binded together so well that teenagers and young adults alike would be reminded of what to enjoy in life and to take advantage of what you have.
I looked at films that appealed for 12 and over and first and saw that on the 'British board of film classification' that certain language and behaviours should not be endorsed in the film so that children of that age would see this and choose to act likewise. I knew that from this, this age rating would not appeal to my film. In the same article I saw that:
"There may be moderate bad language. Strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification." ~ BBFC.
However, when looking at films that appealed to a 12A audience, I saw that moderate swearing and unseen bits of violence could be incorporated in these films, due to the fact that my film is basically just the story of two young adults fighting through one of their illnesses which is the sound effect, I wanted them to be as realistic as possible to what people of that age act like nowadays. Again I saw that both 12 and 12A where very similar when comparing what can be included in the film:
"There may be moderate violence but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context." ~ BBFC.
I also looked at films that were suitable for people aged 15 and over, and saw that it was much more likely that I may use this as my film rating. But when researching further into the articles provided by the BBFC, I saw that the 12A age rating may be more appropriate for my film. Again I saw that in a 15, more violence and swearing could be conveyed without the risk of a child or younger person imitating what they have seen on screen, but in my own film, I will not be using extreme violence and swearing, it would only be the occasional swear word, and only a brief scene where the character is beaten up off screen, then suffering from a split lip later on in another scene. I saw that:
"There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification." ~ BBFC.
Doc:
Doc was a great continuation with the back to the future theme as he almost acts as a mentor for Marty, a mad and deranged man who fights his own battles, and being placed in the same situation as Marty, in the future. However, contradictory to Marty, Doc wants to be in the future all the way through, even though Marty questions his decisions throughout the film, its almost as if Doc is used to what is happening. In my own characters case, Peter is the one questioning his powers, he wanted to have them, he got them and is experiencing how they ruin his life, and then he doesn't want them anymore, similar to Marty, and then Mitch, a retired, old and deranged man who feels the same as peter but is more comfortable with the unfolding of events as he has had to deal with them his whole life, similar to Doc.
Big daddy and Hit girl:
My friend suggested these characters to me from the film Kick ass, before this, I hadn't actually watched the films yet, and as silly as they are I sat and I watched them. I agree with my friend that the relationship shared between the father-daughter duo of Big daddy and Hit girl (weird names I know) reflected the personalities between Peter and Mitch, Mitch acting as a mentor to the young new person with powers and trying to help him through it as he is in the same situation. This doesn't 100% reflect my characters as Kick ass is a very strange film, but it still links to my overall theme of a really low budget superhero film with no overall theme but to make people laugh at how stupid all of their powers and suits are.
Mr.White and Mr.Orange (reservoir dogs):
This pair in the film share a relationship that is turmoiled but quite beautiful. This is reinforced when Mr orange gets shot in the beginning of the film, leading to Mr Whites fatherly instincts to kick in with the kid and try to help him, they are on a first name basis and share a father son relationship which is forbidden in their line of work. We see their relationship flourish throughout the film, with Mr orange being an undercover cop, we feel bad for Mr white as he is giving his life for a man who is actually trying to rat them out and learn from them. As the film goes on, we see Mr Orange have a change of nature with the men, he shares a very beautiful father-son relationship with Mr white and so he wants to help and protect him the same way he did when he was shot, he cradled him, held his hand, and told him he would be okay when he thought he was going to die. At the end of the film, we see their relationship slowly diminish much to, Mr whites dismay, as he reveals that he is an undercover cop after the recent events that occurred within the short end scene as they all shot each other simultaneously, leading to Mr white crying , and them all eventually dying together amidst the cops. They inspired my own two main characters as they too share a father son bond and have a relationship that is quite turmoiled as he saves him in the beginning, and then proceeds to pay off the bad guys and still maintain his fame, but then redeems him self at the end by revealing his truth.
Full name: __________
Other names:
Personality: cocky, witty, thinks he is the coolest person on planet earth, profound, charismatic, quiet at times, nostalgic, stoic, thinks he is a hero, a bit dumb, stupid sense of humour.
Occupation: friendly neighbourhood idiot.
Alignment: good guy or the protagonist.
Affiliations: the bigger friendly neighbourhood idiot.
"He has some heroic traits, but Peter Quill is no angel, and has eked out a living through petty theft, cons, and other criminal activity. While he has no superpowers, his quick wits favour him in conversation and in battle, and he often manages to find unlikely solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems."
My own version: He has some heroic traits, like wanting to beat up people brawnier than him to save old ladies, but he is no angel. He attempts to be the friendly neighbourhood superhero, but this fails miserably due to his new 'powers' that cause everything he does to make a sound effect. While he has these useless powers, his quick witty nature and cockiness favour him in fights and with the ladies, but often manages to find unlikely situations to meddle in. I also looked at videos on YouTube to see how to convey a comedic character without making them seem cheesy, stupid, and lazily made, and once again, I stumbled across more videos on Edgar Wright and he is my favourite director anyway so it doesn't matter to me! Edgar Wrights films and directing has REALLY inspired me as you can probably tell!
Peter:
Peter is my main protagonist in my short film and is a wholehearted, music fuelled, eccentric young man with a heart of gold, until he is affected by the sound effect which is the main problem in the film. Peter has to battle through both the sound effect and the obstacle of a gang who is out to get him and Mitch, my developed side character who acts as a mentor to Peter.
Peter has a very diverse personality in my eyes, he is cocky, witty, thinks everyone he meets will love him, profound, charismatic, loud and bubbly, nostalgic, stoic, a bit dumb, has a very strange sense of humour and has a heart of gold. His occupation is the friendly neighbourhood idiot and his alignment is the good guy or the main protagonist. We see the main development of this character when he gets his powers, before he has these powers he has a tonne of friends, everyone loves him, he is a young boy with a heart of gold and is extremely nostalgic, once he gets his powers, his life begins its slow and painful decline into loneliness, his friends and loves begin to disown him and his life takes a quick but unexpected turn.
He is a persistent smile until the unfortunate fight in the alley that was a complete knock back for him as a person, having to be saved by an older superhero with high morale wasn't what he expected. He wears casual clothing most of the time, with at least one item being themed like a superhero to stick with his theme of friendly neighbourhood idiot.
Peter has a very clouded back story, he has a family who loved him and a whole manner of friends, he was the talk of the town before he got his powers, the life of the party. He has a continuous love interest throughout his life and is soon to be rejected by her, causing his downward spiral into madness. He meets Mitch in his youth, stumbling into a mugging by accident and being threatened by gang members, Mitch finds his fellow gang members and teaches them a lesson, right in front of Peter, in which he then wants to be a superhero like him. He bumps into him again later on in life, running into a mugging, in which he thinks this is his time to shine. He tries to help the old lady, only to be beaten to a pulp by Mitch's gang members sons, Mitch comes along, seeing the commotion, rescuing Peter from the situation. Peter gets his powers here, which then sparks the mentor bond between Mitch and Peter.
Mitch:
Mitch is a supporting side character in my film as I thought rather than attempting to write two main protagonists and then fail miserably, I thought I would rather write a really good Main character and a really good supporting character.
Mitch, my supporting character, is a retired, hard boiled, 'superhero' with high morale and a heart of gold. He acts as a mentor to Peter who is in the same boat as him with having powers that only allow them to make sound effects, and make them the laughing stock of many. Mitch has a strange back story, running with a gang for his whole life, lending money to people and then having a view to a kill if they did something they didn't like or didn't repay the money, they were the biggest loan shark, money launderers in the city. Mitch however, was the most plentiful and resourceful of the gang, starting off as a tragic ex cop with a lack of morale and hatred of authority, he would do anything for the gang, even if it risked his own back.
Mitch got his powers beating a man to death just to keep the gang on his back going, they man didn't want to repay them, so he took it too far, attempting to extinguish Mitch in a back alley in order to stick his fingers up at the money launderers. Mitch, in extreme anger, gets rid of the man, going against his own ideals in order to keep his gang going. Here, Mitch gains his powers, he is burdened with these powers for the rest of his life, as good things don't happen to bad people.
Mitch has always been a kind heated, quiet but big mouthed, gang member, who is the most plentiful of the group, looked up to by his peers, he gives off a visage of brutality and hatred for many, but he is actually a guy who likes to stick to his ideals no mater the consequences. Mitch's alignment is the hero or side character who has a past of being a brutal gang member.
Other characters:
My other characters will mostly be side characters or extras, this is the list of people I will be using.
- Bad guy 1 and 2 (older, Mitch's fellow gang members.)
- Bad guy 1 and 2 (younger, the sons of Mitch's fellow gang members.)
- Girl 1 and girl 2 (Peters age, doctors office, they will be there to mock him.)
- Old lady (for both the mugging scenes.)
- Man 1 (for a quick flashback of when Mitch finds the guy who owes the gang money.)
These characters are not as important as Peter or Mitch, but they still hold value to the narrative and the way it flows.
This is an close up shot which allows an audience to become quite close and intimate with the main character, and shows certain body parts of the character. I achieved this shot by gaining inspiration from a number of different films throughout the course. This was shown clearly within Guardians of the galaxy, when peter quill rescues gammora from the dark depths of space, this becomes a close, but almost awkward scene as the camera becomes so intimate with both of the main protagonists.
Steve Neale's theory consists of repetition and difference. He states that genres should all contain instances of repetition and difference, this is essential to the economy of the genre.
He states that it is defined by two things:
- How much it conforms to the genres individual conventions and stereotypes, a film must match the genres conventions to be a part of that genre.
- How much a film subverts the genres conventions and stereotypes, it much subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone or copy of a film that's already out.
He states that Hollywood has a generic regime of two functions:
- The guarantee of pleasure and meaning for the audience.
- To offset financial risks of film production by providing collateral against innovation and difference.
What inspired me for my own film:
- To carefully choose the genre for my own short film, and to stick to it throughout the whole process of making the film, which I have actually managed to do.
- To achieve an aspect of pleasure and meaning for the audience, and to make the film contain more than just basic elements and to interest and keep the audience watching.
Films:
Baby Driver:
Baby Driver is one of my favourite films and I knew that I had to include at least one scene from the film into my own. One scene in particular that inspired me is the opening scene of the film. Baby moves around the screen with a spring in his step listening to music, introducing what his character is going to be like throughout the rest of the film, and establishing him as the main protagonist. There is also a heavy use of tracking shots in this scene, allowing the audience to follow him through his journey to the coffee shop. I also was inspired by the fact that certain lyrics in the song appeared in the streets as he moved, for example the brass instrument shop appearing in one scene when the brass instruments began to play in the song, and the lyrics placed randomly around the screen within the setting. Edgar Wrights films as a whole were huge inspirations to me, with the debate as to whether he is too 'English' to create American films, from this moment I knew that he was going to be an inspiration to me as he rose from the ashes and continued doing what he was doing even though audiences were pointing out every problem with his 'American' based films like Baby Driver.
I wanted to use this opening scene in my own opening for my film as I wanted my main protagonist to be dancing to some funky fresh rhymes as he made his way to a party to meet the girl of his dreams, I wanted this to snazzy up the production a bit and to stop the film from falling into the pit of darkness. Being different from the usual depressing nature of short films is probably going to be my biggest mistake but, who doesn't love being different? I also wanted my main protagonist to have the same temperament and personality as baby, becoming lost in the music and the music being the main character arc in the film!
Reservoir Dogs:
The wondrous and violent nature of Tarantino's films have greatly influenced the film industry during his reign in the cinematic world, still randomly popping out with a new film for a neo noir audience. This scene in particular, the opening scene which already introduces us to our characters personalities and vaguer just through their walking through the street in a bad ass Slow-Mo shot with "little green bag" playing in the background, telling us of our actors and our film title at the same time. Tarantino's overall aesthetic and film making style is quite extraordinary. His use of 60's stylist and characterisation makes his films incredibly unique and flavourful.
The things I was inspired by in this short film was, the use of slow motion in dramatic build up scenes, depth of field shots to show more than one personality conflicting in the film, and the use of character development and how certain social aspects can shape of character. The cast easily manage to reflect on their characters and are able to connect with their them so I want to create character profiles that are interesting and gripping personality’s. I want to focus around the idea of hedonism and an apathetic society as all the hipster generation wants is to be accepted by social standards.
Shaun of the dead:
Shaun of the dead and the series that the dynamic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost was a part of is very hard not to sit back an enjoy, its a good laugh, but still is able to convey some dramatic elements as well as comedy. I have been inspired by this film through Edgar Wrights use of Chekhov's gun and the use of music to emphasise a scene. Chekhov's gun is used in many scenes throughout the film, but the Winchester gun scene really stood out to me. Near the beginning of the film, the two main protagonists are sitting in the pub drinking, as they do in most of the films, and notice a gun on the wall, Ed, asking if it works, the more 'aware' Shaun says that it obviously wouldn't work because its a pub not a shooting range. However, later on in the film once the apocalypse has broken out, they are back in the same pub, Queen playing loudly in the background, fighting of zombies, you know, as you do when listening to Queen. Again, Ed asks if the gun works, earning an angry NO from Shaun who is busy fighting a zombie to pay attention to Ed, only for the gun to go off and smash the glasses behind the bar, Ed holding a sarcastic 'I told you so' grin.
I wanted to use neon lines or just moving lines in the film to edit on to the screen to show the sound effects and the use of unheard onomatopoeia through on screen sound effects.
(These look like a whole jumble of films so far that have no links AT ALL, but they do come together as a mix and match of different film elements and terminology that will hopefully be able to weave into my own production, but still, considering I have no film making experience, I think its going pretty well! Not...)
Another scene from this film that I thought would really fit in my own film was mentioned by my coursework teacher, he said that rather than having a miss match of multiple characters and having to introduce someone to help my main protagonist, I could have some kind of mentor instead of a friend to help him. It could be an overweight, sweatpants wearing, retired superhero who tries to make the main protagonist come to terms with themselves and to just get on with the powers and use them for good rather than their own purposes.
This scene was what he mentioned to me, and it really captures what I would want to go for in my own film, the retired 'superhero' with useless powers just like my main protagonist, and looks like a bit of a tramp. In my own film, this kind of character could be introduced after my main character runs away and the two friends talk in the forest where he is hiding, and then the female character can get a text on her phone asking where she is, and the meet up with the retried character is arranged by her to make the male protagonist feel a bit better about himself. I'm honestly falling in love with my film plot and narrative, if only it could be a bit longer than 5 minutes!
Deadpool:
Deadpool I obviously very rude and an 18 but I love the way marvel used fourth all breaks in the film to shape Wade Wilson into the character we know and love, this I what I wanted to do in my own film to convey my own main character, just without the rude jokes (there might be a few implicit ones...) and suggestive humour because I don't want to get in trouble... but anyway I still will be using toned down humour to convey my own character! When you look at the micro elements of Deadpool there are so many! But fourth wall breaks and really cheesy and stupid humour is my specialty, so in my own film it wont be a problem. I really want to show people that I'm not just the boring quiet kid, I want to make a film that actually reflects ME as a person, and to show everyone what its really all about!
Looking into this film in more depth, I really think that my min protagonist is still going to have the same mentality as Wade Wilson, just minus the excessive swearing and crude jokes, but plus the sarcastic humour and dumb comments that none wants to hear. In my film he is going to try and make his own suit and will flick through his computer looking at spandex suits, trying to be the heroes that he has looked up to for so long.
Spiderman: homecoming:
As much as I love the original Spiderman films, they didn't quite remind me of the characters in my own film, even though the older films followed the idea of balancing out their two sides that I wanted to convey in my own short film, the characters didn't share the same friendly relationships and personalities that I wanted for my own characters. Peter Parker being the one with the powers and having to deal with being both himself and Spiderman to impress people, and Ned being the sidekick friend who helps him and knows what he is gong through. I may not be using this now as I have erased my main female protagonist just to make the narrative easier to understand and the fact that she became irrelevant to the story after a while as I was skimming through my old treatment.
So again, when flicking back through these films, I found that the whole relationship that i wanted gong on between the two best friends in my own film is going to be removed because of the limited amount of actors (and friends) that I have so its just a one man show now, including the mentor who tries to help Peter through his new powers. My main character, Peter, will have the same mentality as a young Peter Parker, scatty and clever, but again saying things that none really wants to hear and the fact that he is desperately trying to be a superhero all of the time.
Scott Pilgrim:
Scott Pilgrim was another film that has really inspired me and was only just recently recommended to me by a friend who has been helping and supporting me through this really confusing and long process of making the final film! This scene in particular really caught my eye as it is exactly what I envisioned for my own montage scene in my film, he gets home, tests out his new 'powers', dances around like an idiot thinking he is the coolest person on planet earth, falling over a few times as he slides across the floor brushing his teeth with a squeaky sound, looking through the computer for costumes as every superhero has one, and then tying his shoes really slowly as he still doesn't know how to tie them properly and then running out of the door to test the 'powers' on a group of muggers. This also conveys my genre of comedy as there is a fast and overall brief scene of montage of testing out the 'powers' and then a really long zoomed in scene of the protagonists feet as he ties his shoelaces really slowly, also adding to the morality of the film.
I 100% am going to use this scene in my film, just to add an extra piece of comedy to it as he legs it to a party, desperately trying to make an impression on a girl he is trying to get with. The scene will play out like this scene, with Peter finishing off his toast and then looking for spandex suits, zipping up his coat and getting dressed like a lunatic, and then trying to tie his shoe laces, only for this to be a very extraneous task and takes him forever to do this! He then tries to run quickly out of the door, realising that he is late and trips over on the floor, he swears and then we see him leave the house on his way to the party.
500 days of summer:
I researched a lot in 'walking' scenes in films, where the protagonist has just accomplished something and does the happy skip down the street, greeting everyone in their path. This is what I wanted to achieve in my own short film in the walking scene as he is just having fun and enjoying himself listening to his music, but then the scene changes to him trying to help an old lady who has just been mugged, it sort of shows contrast and how quickly things can change. This scene in particular from 500 days of summer was sent to me from a friend who thought that this should be how the walking scene plays out, alongside the listening to music from baby driver. My protagonist is very much like most of these characters, a bubbly, and happy-go-lucky young adult in the prime of life.
Just recently, I thought that my opening scene felt a lot like the original trailer of the Incredibles, the camera panning around the superhero memorabilia and then allowing the audience to see what kind of person the main character is going to be just from the opening shot of the film. I want to have a young Peter positioned on the floor reading a comic book, while the camera continuously pans around to see superhero memorabilia sprawled over the walls and on the side tables of his room, empathising his character and hopefully outlining the overall plot of the film and to intrigue the audience from the beginning.
When scrolling through and editing my blog, I figured that this is probably the most easy thing to do in my own film, because of the fact that it is only a few shots of superhero memorabilia and just random bits around a room, so its not going to be hard to achieve. I don't even really need actors in this scene, I just thought that it would make sense to have a younger Peter in the scene.
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Edgar Howard Wright is an English director, screenwriter and producer. He began making independent short films before making his first feature film A Fistful of Fingers. Wright created and directed the comedy series Asylum in 1996, written with David Walliams.
FILMS: he has created many films during his career such as, Baby driver, Hot fuzz, The world's end, Antman and many more. These films have inspired me through the directors use of Chekhov's gun and the use of music and character development to make a convincing narrative.
CHEKHOV'S GUN: is a concept that describes how every element of a story should contribute to the whole film's narrative. An example of this in wrights films are in Shaun of the dead (2004). A rifle is hung on the wall early on in the film, the characters talking about the gun asking if it works, only for it to be used later on in the production as a weapon to kill the antagonists.
Edgar Wright is honestly one of my BIGGEST inspiration when it comes to film, alongside many others, watching the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost film with my family, I just grew to love his techniques and methods when creating comedies and I jut love how imaginative he is with his camera shot and angles, for example, in each of his films, props or objects and people enter the frame in funny ways, which I really love.
Bryon Camacho:
FILMS: he is a director, writer and producer for only two short films, that use a series of different editing techniques and gripping character personalities to keep the viewers interested. The two short films he has produced are, THE PIT (2012) and THE LESS OF YOU (2015).
SLOW MOTION AND LIGHTING: this short film uses a series of slow motion shots that I may incorporate in my own short film. One shot I may use in my own production is the love interest confrontation scene. The camera focuses on the back of one characters head so we don't see what happens between the two, and pans around in slow motion throughout the scene to see the flash of light from the camera, which will be the sound effect in my case, and then speed up again.
The lighting is very dim in most scenes of this film, but the scenes that are light capture the comedic scenes that the film holds that I will use in my own short film. In the very few short films he has created, he was able to perfectly convey the hedonistic culture that we live in today and how everyone is constantly in an attempt to keep up with one another.
John Hughes:
Hughes was an American film maker and director who began as an author of humorous essays and stories for National Lampoon and went on to write some of the most successful live-action and comedy films of the 80's and 90's. Some films he created were National Lampoon, Ferris Buelers day off, Home Alone, Weird science and many more of which inspired me when creating my own short film.
BREAKING THE FORTH WALL: John Hughes uses a LOT of this in his many films, all of which make him unique as a director. Many of his much loved characters of the 80's and 90's used forth wall breaking to enhance both the comedy and the characters. Many of Hughe's films have been ones that I've grown up with and loved watching when I was younger, and finally being able to come back to them as inspiration for my own film is a dream! But yes, forth wall breaking is definitely something that will be used in my own short film.
Steven Spielberg:
Spielberg is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the founding pioneers of the New Hollywood era and one of the most popular directors and producers in film history. Spielberg started in Hollywood directing television and several minor theatrical releases. He became a household name as the director of Jaws (1975), which was critically and commercially successful and is considered the first summer blockbuster. His subsequent releases focused typically on science fiction and adventure films, and Close encounters of the third kind (1977), Raiders of the lost ark (1981), E.T. the extra-terrestrial (1982), and Jurassic park (1993) are seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood escapist film making.
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Other media (TV shows, books, video games etc.):
The Walking Dead:
There is one scene here that I love particularly, the scene where the group from the 'Kingdom' go and scout to find a new bulb for their film projector. The 'king' Ezekiel switches on a tape recorder, a song playing that the group gently bob their heads to, showing that amidst all of the destruction and the current zombie apocalypse that has broken out, there is still some humanity and pleasure left in the world. I know it sounds super weird but how cool would it be to have a zombie apocalypse? Sorry... just a weird Daisy thought. I researched into this scene as I wanted to see how to use different musical scores and techniques to convey different emotions and feelings to what is actually happening in the backgrounds of the scene (contrast). The section where Jerry looks over at Carol like they are in a theatre production saying 'come on sisters' to add some humanity and comedy to the scene, and we also get a pretty distraught and 'what are we actually achieving' look from Carol.
I was definitely inspired by the relationships shown by most of the characters and the way they react to things that shouldn't really be a bother to them anymore, i.e. the way Joel reacts to cutting his finger with a handmade hammer knife even though his wife kills and eats people, its a bit of a weird reaction to have in their circumstance. I wanted this to be the case for Mitch and Peter as Mitch is the mentor and has had the powers from the beginning and acts as if it is a normal thing, and then Peter who is a little confused but still roped in to the same situation, wanders around aimlessly in pure confusion and shock at what is happening but still pretends everything is fine.
Red Dead Redemption 2:
Right, to begin with I'm not going to lie, I cried a lot at the ending of the game, not being a wuss, just who I am. Okay, now that's been clarified, I was really inspired by this scene due to the immense beauty and sadness that was shown. Obliviously my main character isn't going to die in my film, but I was going to have a scene where he wanted to end his life but didn't, this is where I wanted to use the whole sunset and beauty amidst the sadness kind of thing that this scene used. Another thing that really inspired me here was the use of music to contrast and end the scene and to show what the character was like throughout the entirety of the game, a kind-hearted, loyal outlaw with high morale and a kindness that outshine anyone else in the production, Rockstar games really did well with this protagonist, similar to how I wanted my protagonist to be!
This game will always hold a special place in my heart and I knew I had to be inspired by something because of how long I played it for. A lot of the dialogue used in the game heavily inspired my film, it ranged from serious inspirational speeches like I HaVe A GoDdAmN PLaN, to singing round the campfire making fun of each other. I also managed to find some songs for my soundtrack that reminded me of this scene and its songs, sad but peaceful, perfect for what I was going for in my own scene .
This screencap right here is the most beautiful and well executed shots of the entire game, it captures peace ,sadness and every emotion possible into one shot and I think that is beautiful. So I will definitely be using a wide shot like this in my final film in the bang flag scene as I feel it will really capture the emotion and peacefulness of the scene as my main character Peter comes to terms with himself.
Extension to Baby Driver: scene one breakdown:
Baby Driver, as seen in the majority of my blog, contains so many elements that I wanted to use in my own film, the soundtrack, the camera shots, just everything. This scene is when Baby speeds around the city as a getaway driver from the cops, making sure his favourite music is there to accompany this getaway. The film has a very clear focus on music and how it affects Baby's everyday life because of his tetanus, and it is very similar to the what I wanted Peter to be like in my on film, a music fuelled young man looking for redemption in a world where superheroes exist and he feels a little bit left out. But yes, this video was incredibly useful as it broke down the micro elements like sounds and cinematography into a more condensed format to help me to understand what went into the scene to make it what it is.
When reflecting back on this, I was still heavily inspired by this film in many ways throughout the whole blog, it just really captures what I wanted for my film, music and camera shots. Alongside Edgar Wrights other films like Shaun Of The Dead and The Worlds End, they all use the kind of themes and camera shots that makes British films so great, the stupid humour and the dumb ways objects appear on the screen and in the shot, for example the cake that enters the screen in Hot Fuzz when they are in the police station.
Practice camera shots:
The first shot that I decided to test was the over the shoulder shot. This shot was relatively easy to capture as the camera just had to be placed on the subjects shoulder to look as if it were looking over their shoulder. this shot is effective as it allows you to have a POV shot of what the protagonist is seeing in front of them, whilst actually physically seeing what is in front of them in the shot. I managed to convince my dad to let me take photos of him as he was the only one willing to have photos taken of him, my friends hate photos so here we have a selection of my dad for the camera shots!
This shot is a medium close up and it shows the subjects shoulders upwards. I don't particularly like this shot as it doesn't really allow anything to be shown as there may be a lack of body language and emotion shown though this. In many films, this shot is used when characters are talking to each other, and is one of those shots that just flickers back and forth between the two characters when they are talking and is a bit of a lazy shot just to fill in a part of the narrative. There is room for a lack of creativity in this shot as well due to the fact that not much can really be shown in this shot other than facial expressions.
This shot is an extreme close up and is used when emphasis is needed on a particular part of a characters body or to focus on something small away from the characters. This shot can be used in a manner of different ways as it shows emotion and facial expression in many different ways. I like this shot as no mater where the camera is focusing, it will always be able to show the most amount of emotion and expression. from a character, whether its the tears in their eyes or the anger in their expression, it will always be able to convey it in the most extreme forms.
This shot is a medium shot and shows the subjects torso upwards. This shot is able to convey both body language and facial expression all in one. This is an effective shot as it allows the most important areas of the character to be exposed to the camera. I will most probably use this shot in the restaurant scene of my film, where Peter and Mitch sit and talk about Peter's new powers and how Mitch has been dealing with them for the majority of his life. This will be used in my film as they are both sitting at a table and will be show using these types of shots. this will also be accompanied by a Dutch angle.
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My friend and I obviously started to look through the Baby Driver soundtrack first, to see what we could find that we thought reflected my characters! The beginning scene of my film was heavily inspired by Baby Drivers opening, the characters dancing around the screen, trying to reach a destination, establishing the main protagonists. The first song that we came across was the 'Harlem shuffle', used in the opening scene of Baby Driver, we loved how bubbly and old sounding the song was, conveying both the indie culture of today and the nature of my main characters. So, when looking back at this and reflecting on my work, I realised that I wont actually be able to use these songs in my own film because of copyright reasons, so I had to look for other alternatives to use.
This was another song we found that sounded very Baby Driver esc named 'The boss' by James Brown. The beginning of the song is very jazz like and sounds a lot like the other song we liked on the soundtrack. It uses a lot of brass instruments and guitars, allowing for a very upbeat piece of music that goes with the my beginning scene. These are only pieces of inspiration so I may not use them in my film because of copyright, so it will be very difficult to find uncopyrighted music that we liked that come from the 80's unless we ask the people very very nicely if we can use it.
My friend and I are big fans of spaghetti westerns and the wonderful soundtrack works of Ennio Morricone, and found this piece of instrumental works that sounded like it could go straight into my ending scene, where the main protagonist is just coming to terms with himself and accepting his powers and wants to use it for good rather than his own purposes! A few dollars more is an absolute masterpiece, and as soon as we rewatched the film and heard the soundtrack for the final duel at the end of the film, it just sounded like it would fit a melancholy, 'coming-to-terms-with-yourself' kind of scene.
We tried to look for music that sounded similar to the 'Watch Chimes' soundtrack from For a few dollars more as I knew that I wouldn't be able to use this music for copyright reasons and the fact that old no name from the film might hogtie us and drag us around from the back of a horse, so I don't think I'll risk it! I just searched 'sad uncopyrighted wind chime music' and I found the one shown above that doesn't really sound anything like what I wanted, but then I found another that sort of sounded like 'Watch Chimes' and wasn't copyrighted!
The next song we found, after sitting in the living room watching an advert, is called "hold on i'm coming" by Sam and Dave. We thought that this song would sound really good in the baby driver esc scene, where my main protagonist is dancing along the street listening to music, some of the lyrics appearing around him in the background and setting of the scene. I'm till unsure about this song however as it is a bit slow and not very 'dancey' if you know what I mean, it has all the elements of a song that would be used in an opening but I'm just not sure if it is upbeat enough for the scene it will be used in.
There is an awful lot of James Brown songs on here, and that's because it is all mostly soul and jazz sounding song that will go well with my scene, and is all heavily inspired by the baby driver soundtrack. This song called 'I feel good' and it really does make you feel good when you listen to it! Its very much a song that you could get up and have a bit of a boogie to, god I sound like an old woman, I'm really not I just really want something that sounds very Edgar Wright and baby driver!
Another song that I came across was shown to me by my Grandad, who said to me 'you know? This song reminds me a lot of Mitch!' so I knew that I had to try and weave it in somewhere, and I agree with him, it really does remind me of Mitch, a brawny, big mouthed retried hero with nothing better to do but help a poor kid who's ended up with the same useless powers as him. This song is called 'The House Of The Rising Sun' by The Animals. I tried to link all of my characters to certain songs just so I could get a clear idea of their character! It was quite effective to be honest!
This is another song that I wanted to use called "The Man" by The Killers. It really reflects both my main character and my side character as they have the ego and personality of the man in the music video. The music is copyrighted, but if I just use a short part, like 4 or 5 seconds, I won't get told off for it, I hope. It's not like I'm earning anything out of my film, it's literally just a few minutes long film made by a hopeless student, but yeah, this song really inspired most of my characters and will hopefully be used when Peter is dancing down the street, listening to music, thinking he is "the man", which is the reason that I liked this part of the film.
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OLD SYNOPSIS:
He talks loudly at the non existent object, still earning weird glances from Amelia who was shaking her head in the background. He touches his lip once more, and says that he will take that out to dinner soon, Amelia moving her head slightly with pursed lips. He shifts in his seat and moves closer to the non existent object. He whispers that this is how it happened, and Amelia asks about what happened, Bryan shaking his head with his palm on his head.
Scene 3: Meet up with friend. Try to come up with a plan. Maybe it's a superhero that knows that they're doing. (Trying to solve the problem through going on an adventure, meeting with the mentor) go to a restaurant fast food to meet someone that was arranged by Amelia to help Bryan get through it all, it ends u being a retired 'superhero' wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, a beard and slightly obese after his retirement, and speaks to Bryan about what he can do, not being much help however:
Bryan sits in a small fast food restaurant, quietly eating his food to himself, not waiting for anyone. He takes small sips of his drink every once in a while and stares out of the window, as if he was reenacting a sad scene in a movie, like staring out of the window of a car as it rains and a song by Adele plays in the background, like that.
Amelia is the first to stand up, grabbing Hannah by the collar, shaking her slightly, fighting, shouting and going for each other, hands flailing everywhere. Bryan walks away from the scuffle, still holding his nose in embarrassment disappearing from the party in an instant, leaving Amelia and Hannah to argue.
Next scene: Point of no return (Has to face up to his problems. Be comfortable with himself and his powers):
NEW LOG LINE:
NEW SYNOPSIS:
Pink = quotes from articles and websites.
Green = what will definitely be used.
Orange = what will be changed.
Blue = questions I have asked myself.
Purple = corrections and reflections.
In the first lessons of film studies, we began to watch a series of short films that we would analyse and take inspiration from for our own short films. While watching these, my main aim was to find the do's and don'ts when directing, producing and using the micro elements required to create a 'good' film. Due to the fact that I was blindly participating in the new lesson, I wasn't quite yet able to pick out the micro elements of film properly and didn't yet have the critical eye that my other classmates had. Over time, with hours of work and practise put in, I was finally able to criticise and judge the rights from wrongs in a film, and I can safely say that whenever I watch a film now at home, I usually get told to shut up because of how overly critical I am being! I find it fascinating how passive most audiences are now, just sitting in the cinema, watching the film with nothing to say but "wow that was great" when leaving. As soon as I became a film student, I became VERY active with what I watched, seeing nothing but "how did the director use cinematography to capture that moment?" or "why did they choose those actors for that role?". I remember at the beginning of film studies in the first exam course taster lesson watching the OC, captivated by the amount of information and elements that could be pulled out of one simple little scene, not knowing that In a few months, I would be watching different types of film and TV, and finding the links between how certain codes and conventions affect the whole production. Its like a book, if the opening act is terrible, no one is going to want to carry on watching or reading! I also didn't realise that I was about to become a huge fan of Hans Zimmer and John Williams, but there you go, it happens! Anyway, lets begin the research and planning!
Green = what will definitely be used.
Orange = what will be changed.
Blue = questions I have asked myself.
Purple = corrections and reflections.
In the first lessons of film studies, we began to watch a series of short films that we would analyse and take inspiration from for our own short films. While watching these, my main aim was to find the do's and don'ts when directing, producing and using the micro elements required to create a 'good' film. Due to the fact that I was blindly participating in the new lesson, I wasn't quite yet able to pick out the micro elements of film properly and didn't yet have the critical eye that my other classmates had. Over time, with hours of work and practise put in, I was finally able to criticise and judge the rights from wrongs in a film, and I can safely say that whenever I watch a film now at home, I usually get told to shut up because of how overly critical I am being! I find it fascinating how passive most audiences are now, just sitting in the cinema, watching the film with nothing to say but "wow that was great" when leaving. As soon as I became a film student, I became VERY active with what I watched, seeing nothing but "how did the director use cinematography to capture that moment?" or "why did they choose those actors for that role?". I remember at the beginning of film studies in the first exam course taster lesson watching the OC, captivated by the amount of information and elements that could be pulled out of one simple little scene, not knowing that In a few months, I would be watching different types of film and TV, and finding the links between how certain codes and conventions affect the whole production. Its like a book, if the opening act is terrible, no one is going to want to carry on watching or reading! I also didn't realise that I was about to become a huge fan of Hans Zimmer and John Williams, but there you go, it happens! Anyway, lets begin the research and planning!
Short films watched and analysed:
Watched 'The Fly':
The first film that we watched was called 'The Fly' and is a black comedy short film directed by Jack Doolan. The film focuses on a bank robbery and a scenario that a protagonist wouldn't normally be in. The fly is ultimately a story of karmic revenge, a cat and mouse game where nobody knows who is playing the cat, and who should be the one attending anger management sessions. A man sits at the wheel of a getaway car outside of a small bank in a town, checking his surroundings every second and fiddling with objects in the car such as a toothpick and his watch, showing all the signs of a man who is paranoid and anxious at his situation. As he drums his fingertips on the wheel, a fly buzzes onto his windshield in front of him, this sparks an unexpected reaction from him. He kills the fly with his windscreen wipers like a cat ready to pounce. With this, he grins like a child at his achievement and we hear the bloodcurdling sounds of gunshots being fired within the bank. Back in the car, we see the fly come back for vengeance to torment the man. It ensues into a comedic and violent brawl between man and fly, leaving the driver a hysterical mess. The rest of his crew emerge from the noise, concealed by masks and injured, as the audience, we are unable to see whether they make a clean getaway.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the frantic and comedic nature of the main protagonist.
- the use of each of the genres within the encounter with both the protagonist and the 'antagonist' of the fly, it is black comedy so it is both comedic with the characters movements and main dilemma, but the darkness of the violence that ensues while this happens applies to the dark side of the comedy.
- the use of close up shots to show the anxious nature of the main protagonist and how he deals with the fly.
Watched 'The Ellington Kid':
- the frantic and comedic nature of the main protagonist.
- the use of each of the genres within the encounter with both the protagonist and the 'antagonist' of the fly, it is black comedy so it is both comedic with the characters movements and main dilemma, but the darkness of the violence that ensues while this happens applies to the dark side of the comedy.
- the use of close up shots to show the anxious nature of the main protagonist and how he deals with the fly.
Watched 'The Ellington Kid':
This short film is set in a typical south London kebab shop, and two friends joke about why they shouldn't eat the beef burgers. The Ellington kid is a dark comedy, and is clearly shown by a real life crime being turnt into an old wives tale to be told to anyone who eats the burgers. It manages to shed light on real life problems that occur in todays society, this short film focuses on gang violence, and although this is a very sensitive subject, they manage to add comedy through the two main protagonists. "Two friends sit in a kebab shop in London. One tells the other a story he'd heard about a boy who'd recently been stabbed by a gang in the street. He'd staggered into the very kebab shop they are sitting in, desperately looking for somewhere to hide, pursued by the gang, looking to finish him off. But the gang hadn't thought about the shop's owners..." - IMDb.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the use of an overarching sensitive subject, but also being able to convey some aspects of dark comedy, contrast?
- the use of the area that the characters live in to convey certain subjects.
- how the characters act true to the area that the film is set in.
Watched 'Over':
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the use of an overarching sensitive subject, but also being able to convey some aspects of dark comedy, contrast?
- the use of the area that the characters live in to convey certain subjects.
- how the characters act true to the area that the film is set in.
Watched 'Over':
This short film was directed by Jorn Threlfall, and starts by presenting a crime scene. During the course of over 9 wide shots that make the audience feel as if they are spying, an intriguing story begins to unfold about a body falling from the sky. The film holds many different manners of suspense and is truly unexpected if you didn't already know about the true case. Although the film is able to keep you on the edge of your seat, its not really something you could watch more than once. It has an immense level of suspense and a closed ending, meaning there was no room for the audience to speculate anymore about what has happened. We have witnessed the incident, and was shown the investigation being carried out, so its not something that could be re-watched.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- I loved how the film was able to keep you on the edge of your seat, and I would love to use that level of intrigue in my own film.
- I wouldn't say it was a film that inspired me much, mainly because of its closed ending and resolved climax.
Watched 'Tight Jeans':
This short film was directed by Destiny Ekaragha, and starts by presenting a conflict between a few friends. Three black teenagers become heavily frustrated when waiting for their friend to come out so they can go on their travels, as this happens, a young white lad strolls by wearing super tight jeans, referencing the title. One of the boys question this fashion statement, sparking one of my favourite debates about race and culture. The director also uses music at the start to show where the film will be set and how this reflect the nature of the characters. She also starts the film with an establishing shot of the setting and the bustle of the area alongside the music, to set the scene, and get the audience ready for the hilarious characters in the film.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the hilarity of the main characters and the bonds that they share, I also love the use of comedy to reference certain races and cultures.
- the use of establishing shots of the setting and culturally appropriate soundtracks to convey the characters and cultures before they have even been shown or introduced on screen.
Watched 'Slap':
This short film was directed by Nick Rowland and focuses on the idea of sexuality and its unacceptance in a closed minded society. A young teenage boxer who is searching for self-definition gives in to his true colours while risking everything. Clearly, in this film, everyone apart from the main character has a closed mind, and is not open to accept anyone, it is a story of acceptance and betrayal. I loved the way that friendship was used to show acceptance only to have this be crushed by betrayal and grief, the film doesnt really have a happy ending, as he is once again forced back into 'hiding' almost and ha to give back in to his masculinty. This use of culture and area also play a large role in this film as the character seemingly lives in a dodgy area, meaning that there will always be tough boys and gangs trying to undermine people who try and show their true colours.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the way that someones true colours are conveyed though a build up of conflict and constant indoctrination into a certain way of thinking and living, in my characters case, him dealing with his useless powers and not being accepted for it.
- the use of race, culture and area to define a character and a person for how they are.
Watched 'Echo':
This short film was directed by Lewis Arnold and is about a young girl who is faking hearing bad news, just to get some money for her family, only for this tragic news to be a reality and leaving the audience conflicted as to whether they should feel sorry for her or not. The girl recieves a phone call delivering some tragic news but her unexpected reaction reveals there is more to each call than there seems. She consistently is able to trick the audience and the people on the streets in the film into helping her out, and shows how the morals of certain people can be refelcted in different ways. The short film uniquely manages to point out certain characters through an array of wide shots and blurred images, this is clearly shown at the beginning of the film when the main protagonist receives the phone call in a large crowd of people, picking her out from the majority from the start and quickly telling the audience that she is the main character in this film.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the series of wide shots and blurred images to pin point a character from the beginning.
- an emphasis on emotion and character development to give the viewer a more conflicting opinion of the main character and their situation.
Watched 'Operator':
The operator is a short film directed by Caroline Bartleet and is about a 999 call operator, holding another persons life in her hands through the phone. Gemma wakes to find her house on fire. Trapped with her son, she dials 999. The operator who answers holds Gemma's life in her hands. The film is the story of how quickly operators are able to divert around different scenarios and recover from even the most distressing situations, it almost acts as a way to shed light on the importance of police operators. The whole film is only from the operators point of view and completely ignores the other characters story on the phone, it flips the perspective of the characters and challenges roles. Its a very simple, but effective short film, that conveys a very powerful message.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- shedding light on the importance of certain subjects and people.
- the focus on flipping the roles and perspectives of the characters to challenge the film elements.
- the sense of urgency in one characters body language and then the lack of this in another.
Watched 'Arrival':
The Arrival is a short film directed and produced by Daniel Montanrini and is about a young woman contemplating whether or not to keep her baby, all while waiting for her lover in a small café. the film is a drama about humanity and decision making. Caffeine or decaf? A non-consequential question for most people, but not ones who are carrying a child. This is a film that captures the pivotal moment of a woman’s internal struggle as she decides whether or not to keep a pregnancy that has resulted from a brief sexual fling. ‘Anna’, played by British actress Emily Barber, has arrived to the small café to share the news with her lover. She arrives a bit too early though, giving her mind a chance to revisit her decision and letting us listen in to a very personal stream of thought. In a simple, four minute runtime, the film compellingly inspires an emotional connection to its lead, and to our own biological instincts.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the way the film unfolds like a minimalist play, the cafe being the set, and the main character being spotlighted in the middle of this.
- the way it inspires an emotional connection to the lead role and our own instincts.
- the way as the main character contemplates her babies fate, the camera zooms into her, a simple, but effective use of cinematography.
And DONE! That took forever and nearly all of my brain cells for some reason but DONE! My last two brain cells when finishing writing this:
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PLANNING QUESTIONS: (6th February 2019):
Before I could begin my initial research into my film and how I was going to produce it, we were given a series of questions to answer that would determine the originality and creativeness of the idea, these were a few of the questions that i thought were valid to help me in researching and to be a reminder of what i need to do to achieve my overall goal!
Is the story original?
Yes, my story is original as it is a twist on the idea of bullying. a boy is bullied as a child for being obsessed with superheroes shown in a very short flashback, and then a flash forward shows the same people bullying the boy more grown up who then discovers his past coming back to him in a form of a sound effect whenever he does something. It ends up the story of two best friends dealing with this sound effect, and is a way to show that you should embrace being different and know that it doesn't shape who you are. This may change!
Is the premise creative?
The premise is a rooftop scene, which I will have very easy for me to film as i now someone who lives in an apartment building. This may also change however, this will be the climax as he has finally broken out of his stage of dealing with his 'powers' and having fun with them with his best friend. this will develop into a comedic scene.
Are the themes strong? Is there also any moral messages?
The themes are mainly strong at the moment, and the moral messages are shown through dealing with the 'powers' and embracing who you are. The main themes at the minute are mental health, bullying, friendship, teen comedy.
Do the themes come across naturally or are they too obvious and forced?
The themes are clear and strong in my current film idea and the themes do come across naturally as they are quite easily conveyed through the narrative, these will be conveyed through the three act structure.
Is the structure of the script well constructed?
the script has not been written yet, but i have a clear idea of the structure that the film will have. This will begin in act one where the audience learns about the main protagonists 'powers' and how it accumulates. Act two will show how he deals with the 'power' and how it affects his life. Act three will be the climax where he goes to a party and tries to get with a girl that he has liked for so long and then she rejects him and thinks he is creepy, this then leads to his trying to end his life, but his friend prevents him from doing this comically.
Does the story start at the latest possible point it can?
So far, the story does start at the latest point that it can in time as I am still going to be able to convey the journey that the protagonist goes through, and able to convey his past.
Where and when does the story take place?
The story takes place in the present time and in the local neighbourhood of the main protagonist, this will be in his home, an alley, a garden and a rooftop. This may also change however.
What is the genre of the script?
The genre of my script is a dramedy and focuses around the idea of mental health and how the main protagonist deals with it, it will also be a teen movie.
Does the film follow the three act structure?
It does follow the three act structure as it has a clear act one, act two and act three. Act one is the setup of the main protagonist as a character and we are introduced to his 'powers', act two is the confrontation between the love interest and the main protagonist and act three is the resolution of the main protagonist and his best friend resolving the previous confrontation.
Does the title of the script convey the essence of the story?
The pending title of my script so far is 'onomatopoeia' which overall conveys the essence of the story as it revolves around the main protagonists 'powers' in the film and how he deals with them.
Does the main character grow and change?
The main character does develop as the film switches between conflicts. In the beginning of the film the character is happy with his life and can deal with his 'powers' but as time progresses, his mental health begins to deteriorate along with his powers, showing a new side of him.
Are there enough or too many characters in the story?
The characters in my film are the two main protagonists both male and female who are best friends, the love interest of the male protagonist, two past friends who we barely see in the film, and a small group of friends at the party.
- I wouldn't say it was a film that inspired me much, mainly because of its closed ending and resolved climax.
Watched 'Tight Jeans':
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the hilarity of the main characters and the bonds that they share, I also love the use of comedy to reference certain races and cultures.
- the use of establishing shots of the setting and culturally appropriate soundtracks to convey the characters and cultures before they have even been shown or introduced on screen.
Watched 'Slap':
This short film was directed by Nick Rowland and focuses on the idea of sexuality and its unacceptance in a closed minded society. A young teenage boxer who is searching for self-definition gives in to his true colours while risking everything. Clearly, in this film, everyone apart from the main character has a closed mind, and is not open to accept anyone, it is a story of acceptance and betrayal. I loved the way that friendship was used to show acceptance only to have this be crushed by betrayal and grief, the film doesnt really have a happy ending, as he is once again forced back into 'hiding' almost and ha to give back in to his masculinty. This use of culture and area also play a large role in this film as the character seemingly lives in a dodgy area, meaning that there will always be tough boys and gangs trying to undermine people who try and show their true colours.
Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the way that someones true colours are conveyed though a build up of conflict and constant indoctrination into a certain way of thinking and living, in my characters case, him dealing with his useless powers and not being accepted for it.
- the use of race, culture and area to define a character and a person for how they are.
Watched 'Echo':
This short film was directed by Lewis Arnold and is about a young girl who is faking hearing bad news, just to get some money for her family, only for this tragic news to be a reality and leaving the audience conflicted as to whether they should feel sorry for her or not. The girl recieves a phone call delivering some tragic news but her unexpected reaction reveals there is more to each call than there seems. She consistently is able to trick the audience and the people on the streets in the film into helping her out, and shows how the morals of certain people can be refelcted in different ways. The short film uniquely manages to point out certain characters through an array of wide shots and blurred images, this is clearly shown at the beginning of the film when the main protagonist receives the phone call in a large crowd of people, picking her out from the majority from the start and quickly telling the audience that she is the main character in this film.Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the series of wide shots and blurred images to pin point a character from the beginning.
- an emphasis on emotion and character development to give the viewer a more conflicting opinion of the main character and their situation.
Watched 'Operator':
The operator is a short film directed by Caroline Bartleet and is about a 999 call operator, holding another persons life in her hands through the phone. Gemma wakes to find her house on fire. Trapped with her son, she dials 999. The operator who answers holds Gemma's life in her hands. The film is the story of how quickly operators are able to divert around different scenarios and recover from even the most distressing situations, it almost acts as a way to shed light on the importance of police operators. The whole film is only from the operators point of view and completely ignores the other characters story on the phone, it flips the perspective of the characters and challenges roles. Its a very simple, but effective short film, that conveys a very powerful message. Elements I could use in my own short film:
- shedding light on the importance of certain subjects and people.
- the focus on flipping the roles and perspectives of the characters to challenge the film elements.
- the sense of urgency in one characters body language and then the lack of this in another.
Watched 'Arrival':
The Arrival is a short film directed and produced by Daniel Montanrini and is about a young woman contemplating whether or not to keep her baby, all while waiting for her lover in a small café. the film is a drama about humanity and decision making. Caffeine or decaf? A non-consequential question for most people, but not ones who are carrying a child. This is a film that captures the pivotal moment of a woman’s internal struggle as she decides whether or not to keep a pregnancy that has resulted from a brief sexual fling. ‘Anna’, played by British actress Emily Barber, has arrived to the small café to share the news with her lover. She arrives a bit too early though, giving her mind a chance to revisit her decision and letting us listen in to a very personal stream of thought. In a simple, four minute runtime, the film compellingly inspires an emotional connection to its lead, and to our own biological instincts. Elements I could use in my own short film:
- the way the film unfolds like a minimalist play, the cafe being the set, and the main character being spotlighted in the middle of this.
- the way it inspires an emotional connection to the lead role and our own instincts.
- the way as the main character contemplates her babies fate, the camera zooms into her, a simple, but effective use of cinematography.
And DONE! That took forever and nearly all of my brain cells for some reason but DONE! My last two brain cells when finishing writing this:
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PLANNING QUESTIONS: (6th February 2019):
Before I could begin my initial research into my film and how I was going to produce it, we were given a series of questions to answer that would determine the originality and creativeness of the idea, these were a few of the questions that i thought were valid to help me in researching and to be a reminder of what i need to do to achieve my overall goal!
Yes, my story is original as it is a twist on the idea of bullying. a boy is bullied as a child for being obsessed with superheroes shown in a very short flashback, and then a flash forward shows the same people bullying the boy more grown up who then discovers his past coming back to him in a form of a sound effect whenever he does something. It ends up the story of two best friends dealing with this sound effect, and is a way to show that you should embrace being different and know that it doesn't shape who you are. This may change!
Is the premise creative?
The premise is a rooftop scene, which I will have very easy for me to film as i now someone who lives in an apartment building. This may also change however, this will be the climax as he has finally broken out of his stage of dealing with his 'powers' and having fun with them with his best friend. this will develop into a comedic scene.
Are the themes strong? Is there also any moral messages?
The themes are mainly strong at the moment, and the moral messages are shown through dealing with the 'powers' and embracing who you are. The main themes at the minute are mental health, bullying, friendship, teen comedy.
Do the themes come across naturally or are they too obvious and forced?
The themes are clear and strong in my current film idea and the themes do come across naturally as they are quite easily conveyed through the narrative, these will be conveyed through the three act structure.
Is the structure of the script well constructed?
the script has not been written yet, but i have a clear idea of the structure that the film will have. This will begin in act one where the audience learns about the main protagonists 'powers' and how it accumulates. Act two will show how he deals with the 'power' and how it affects his life. Act three will be the climax where he goes to a party and tries to get with a girl that he has liked for so long and then she rejects him and thinks he is creepy, this then leads to his trying to end his life, but his friend prevents him from doing this comically.
Does the story start at the latest possible point it can?
So far, the story does start at the latest point that it can in time as I am still going to be able to convey the journey that the protagonist goes through, and able to convey his past.
Where and when does the story take place?
The story takes place in the present time and in the local neighbourhood of the main protagonist, this will be in his home, an alley, a garden and a rooftop. This may also change however.
What is the genre of the script?
The genre of my script is a dramedy and focuses around the idea of mental health and how the main protagonist deals with it, it will also be a teen movie.
Does the film follow the three act structure?
It does follow the three act structure as it has a clear act one, act two and act three. Act one is the setup of the main protagonist as a character and we are introduced to his 'powers', act two is the confrontation between the love interest and the main protagonist and act three is the resolution of the main protagonist and his best friend resolving the previous confrontation.
Does the title of the script convey the essence of the story?
The pending title of my script so far is 'onomatopoeia' which overall conveys the essence of the story as it revolves around the main protagonists 'powers' in the film and how he deals with them.
Does the main character grow and change?
The main character does develop as the film switches between conflicts. In the beginning of the film the character is happy with his life and can deal with his 'powers' but as time progresses, his mental health begins to deteriorate along with his powers, showing a new side of him.
Are there enough or too many characters in the story?
The characters in my film are the two main protagonists both male and female who are best friends, the love interest of the male protagonist, two past friends who we barely see in the film, and a small group of friends at the party.
Genre research:
DRAMEDY: a television programme or film in which the serious and comic elements derive mainly from character and plot development. A hybrid genre. A dramedy is a hybrid genre that contains both comedic aspects and of course drama as its main genre. I decided to use this in my own film as I wanted a light hearted, dramedy that reflects my ideas and own self interests and to touch on subjects that are important through comedy and drama at the same time.
DRAMA: a drama is a story or situation which usually presents some sort of conflict as the production progresses. In my own short film, the drama or conflict would be the sound effects that are taking over my main protagonists life and how it affects his bond with society.
COMEDY: The goal of most comedy examples is to induce laughter in the audience. There are many different forms of comedy, such as screwball comedy, black comedy, innuendo, parody, satire, pun, comedy of manners, romantic comedy, farce, burlesque, sarcasm, dramatic irony, and self-deprecation. In my short film I wanted to convey a lot of different types of comedy, from tickling comedy to self deprecating comedy, just to ensure that the element of drama can still be heavily seen by the audience.
'Now you see it' was a very useful YouTube channel when I was researching into different genres and themes for my film, as they explained the do's and dont's of film making. There are many of their videos linked in my blog! This video explained the difference between British comedy and American comedy, in which the narrator says how the American dream comedy is better than the dark comedy of Britain, which is an awfully biased opinion. Both American and British comedy contradict each other, the Americans are confused by our sense of humour, and the British are confused by the Americans sense of humor, so really, we are all as bad as each other. Still, I would want to do a comedy, but it turns out, rather than writing only 5 pages of script, I ended up going overboard and writing 25 pages, oops? It may end up lacking the comedy that i desired because of how short it has to be, but it can be done!
COMING OF AGE (Sub-genre): In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, film and video games that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood. Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasise dialogue or internal monologue over action, and are often set in the past. I didn't actually know whether my film was going to be like a coming of age, but when speaking to my teacher about genres and sub-genres, I realised that due to the fact that my film involves teenagers and young adults growing up and maturing, I knew that I would eventually need to incorporate this sub-genre.
SUICIDE: this will be used in my film at the end as the main protagonist decides to end his life due to the fact that he feels useless, and stupid with the lack of friends, love, and moral that he has as the film progresses, adding to the darker elements of the film. I'm not trying to glorify any of this, but I want to shed a better light on mental illness through comedy.
PASTICHE SUPERHERO FILMS (Sub-genre): I was only just introduced to this on the 11th of march 2019 by my teacher and I found that this was the exact thing that I wanted for my own short film.
"The pastiche copies the tone and flavor of its original." (This can be said for films like Deadpool as it makes fun of the comic book universe through comedy, rude humour, and old songs, its almost like a spoof of the originals, there is always one character in a series that makes fun of all the others.)
"A pastiche may be created as a homage to the original artist, or it may be intended as a gentle parody. The distinction is not important—although an exaggerated parody that did not actually reflect the style of the original would not be a pastiche. A pastiche which doesn't show some respect for the original would be a very difficult thing to pull off. Most pastiches are created in a spirit of fun, which can often make it hard to determine whether the creator intended parody or homage—or even, possibly, both." (An exception to the just-for-fun rule is in Academia, where a pastiche may be created as a deconstruction of the original, but such works rarely reach—or are intended for—a broad audience.)
Pastiche films all include aspects of forth wall breaking, humour, old songs, and have an all round confusing but enjoyable aspect to them, they serve no purpose and are as silly as anything, but still entice the audience because of how simple and different they are from the usual.
The hybrid genre that I will be using in my film is DRAMEDY.
BEING AN OUTCAST: Being an outcast is a person who has been rejected or ostracized by their society or social group. This would also link well to the idea of being a deviant to society and could allow me to explore different mental illnesses, and almost have my film centred around the idea of Tourette's as the protagonist is dealing with an unexpected sound effect every time he does something
FRIENDSHIPS: the emotions or conduct of friends and the relationship between friends is something that I want to explore within my own production for my two main protagonists. the inspiration will come from my own bond with my friends and friendships from other texts and films.
TOURETTES?: Tourette's is a tic disorder that causes words or actions to be carried out unexpectedly and without the persons control. Still sticking with my superhero theme, I could also convey Tourette's through this as my main protagonist is struggling with sound effects that take over his every action and effect his everyday life and relationships with others. It could also act as his 'origin' story as it is what shapes him into the character he is now from bulling in his childhood coming back to bite him later on in life. I did some extra research and I just thought that it didn't really go with my initial idea and sort of made it stray away from the actual moral of the story.
ONOMATOPOEIA: The formation of a word from a sound associated with what is named. I wanted this to be my main focus and maybe my films title as my main protagonist is suffering from a sound effect that is taking over his every action, this could act as his 'superhero' origin story, music is his remedy, and the film just mainly focuses around sound effects.
COMEDY: The goal of most comedy examples is to induce laughter in the audience. There are many different forms of comedy, such as screwball comedy, black comedy, innuendo, parody, satire, pun, comedy of manners, romantic comedy, farce, burlesque, sarcasm, dramatic irony, and self-deprecation. In my short film I wanted to convey a lot of different types of comedy, from tickling comedy to self deprecating comedy, just to ensure that the element of drama can still be heavily seen by the audience.
SUICIDE: this will be used in my film at the end as the main protagonist decides to end his life due to the fact that he feels useless, and stupid with the lack of friends, love, and moral that he has as the film progresses, adding to the darker elements of the film. I'm not trying to glorify any of this, but I want to shed a better light on mental illness through comedy.
PASTICHE SUPERHERO FILMS (Sub-genre): I was only just introduced to this on the 11th of march 2019 by my teacher and I found that this was the exact thing that I wanted for my own short film.
"The pastiche copies the tone and flavor of its original." (This can be said for films like Deadpool as it makes fun of the comic book universe through comedy, rude humour, and old songs, its almost like a spoof of the originals, there is always one character in a series that makes fun of all the others.)
"A pastiche may be created as a homage to the original artist, or it may be intended as a gentle parody. The distinction is not important—although an exaggerated parody that did not actually reflect the style of the original would not be a pastiche. A pastiche which doesn't show some respect for the original would be a very difficult thing to pull off. Most pastiches are created in a spirit of fun, which can often make it hard to determine whether the creator intended parody or homage—or even, possibly, both." (An exception to the just-for-fun rule is in Academia, where a pastiche may be created as a deconstruction of the original, but such works rarely reach—or are intended for—a broad audience.)
Pastiche films all include aspects of forth wall breaking, humour, old songs, and have an all round confusing but enjoyable aspect to them, they serve no purpose and are as silly as anything, but still entice the audience because of how simple and different they are from the usual.
The hybrid genre that I will be using in my film is DRAMEDY.
Subject matter and concepts:
DEVIANCY: deviancy is the fact or state of diverging from usual or accepted standards, especially in social behaviour. I wanted to explore this concept as I could incorporate many different mental illnesses and physical issues linking to my short film.BEING AN OUTCAST: Being an outcast is a person who has been rejected or ostracized by their society or social group. This would also link well to the idea of being a deviant to society and could allow me to explore different mental illnesses, and almost have my film centred around the idea of Tourette's as the protagonist is dealing with an unexpected sound effect every time he does something
FRIENDSHIPS: the emotions or conduct of friends and the relationship between friends is something that I want to explore within my own production for my two main protagonists. the inspiration will come from my own bond with my friends and friendships from other texts and films.
TOURETTES?: Tourette's is a tic disorder that causes words or actions to be carried out unexpectedly and without the persons control. Still sticking with my superhero theme, I could also convey Tourette's through this as my main protagonist is struggling with sound effects that take over his every action and effect his everyday life and relationships with others. It could also act as his 'origin' story as it is what shapes him into the character he is now from bulling in his childhood coming back to bite him later on in life. I did some extra research and I just thought that it didn't really go with my initial idea and sort of made it stray away from the actual moral of the story.
"When a character is drafted to the silver screen the sound comes with him."
This was a quote that i found whilst searching for ways to convey onomatopoeia in my film, if it was from making actual sounds behind the camera, adding effects onto the screen, or just by pre-recording the sounds by using twigs and clown horns, the article gave lots of information that i hoped to use in my own short film. Another quote that resonated with me was this, "Berkey and his team tore apart chicken and turkey carcasses and also layered the sounds of cracking nuts". Obviously I'm not going to act like a prehistoric animal and rip apart chicken carcasses, but it hints at how I wanted to create my own onomatopoeia through creating sounds behind the camera for the main protagonists 'powers'. BALANCE: When looking at onomatopoeia, I researched into different comic book heroes and protagonists that had a balanced relationship with themselves. A prime example of this is Spider mans persona. he has the one side which is spider man, and the other side of him which is Peter Parker. the idea of balance shows that if he is Peter Parker for too long, the world is in danger, and if he is spider man too long then people wonder what has happened to Peter Parker. It focuses mainly on the idea of "with great power comes great responsibility". In the comics and the films, Peter Parker uses his powers to earn money in a boxing club and in turn, the fact that he is detaching from using his powers for good, his uncle Ben dies. As harsh as it sounds, a double persona is never the best way to be for a superhero, it is seemingly difficult to balance out both of their personalities.
RICHARD DYER'S STAR THEORY: my coursework teacher explained this theory to me on the 15th March 2019 and links to the overall idea of balance and how hard it can be to maintain. This is a quote from an online article that I researched on this theory:
"Star theory refers to the idea that celebrities are commodities manufactured by institutions. Dyer believes that celebrities are constructed to represent 'real people' experiencing real emotions in order to relate to audiences and sell products such as films or music. An example of this is Marilyn Monroe (the celebrity) who was controlled by film companies (the institution) in order to create an icon and attract audiences to the films they were making and therefore making money for the company."THE HEROES JOURNEY: The heroes journey was also a concept that I was introduced to on the 15th March 2019 and shows the journey that the main protagonist has to go through in order to get the resolution and rewards that they so desire. In my short films case, the characters call to adventure is his powers, the mentor is his sidekick Amelia that was are immediately introduced to in the start of the film, he crosses the threshold as things start to go wrong with his powers, he has trail and failures when he speaks to Amelia in the forest about is powers and what he can do to deal with them, this leads to his growth as he is suddenly encouraged and feels that he can do anything with his helper of Amelia his best friend, this then leads to the death and rebirth of Bryan in the party scene when everything goes wrong again and this also acts as the revelation that he so desires, and he wants the gift of the girl but doesn't get it as no one accepts him so it ends with just him and his best friend/sidekick having fun and not working about anyone. Confusing I know but it makes sense to me! Change of plan, the new structure of the heroes journey in my film is he witnesses a mugging as a young boy and wants to be hero after seeing a real life hero in action. He then grows up and witnesses a mugging again, he wants to be a hero still so he goes to rescue the old lay, only to be beaten up by the muggers and rescued by the superhero he saw when he was a boy, they go and eat something, with the older hero explaining what to do and leaving him. Peter then wants to test his new powers at home, laughing and joking with himself until he falls in love with a girl and fails to get with her because of his powers. This then causes him to go on a downwards spiral and tries to kill himself, only to be stopped by the kind words of Mitch, this then teaches the lesson that anyone can be s hero, no matter the consequence and how its good to be different.
BREAKING THE FOURTH WALL: I would love to use this theme in my film as it would really deviate from the usual and stick to the pastiche theme that I was going for and would show that the superhero underlay of my film and make sure it is not explicitly seen but rather implicitly seen by the audience. I found a video on YouTube that helped to explain the concept of fourth wall breaking and how to incorporate it without using it too much. I may nit actually use this in my film, but it ties with the pastiche theme that I wanted and would allow me to explore further into what makes a pastiche superhero film! You all know the "Hi I'm so and so, you may be wondering how I got into this situation..."
SOUND EFFECTS: adding on to the onomatopoeia that I wanted to convey in my film, I wanted to explore how to create sound effects behind the camera and place it into the protagonists mouth in front of the camera (not literally!). With my main protagonist, he has an array of different sound effects that emit from his body and act as his 'powers', and I'm not sure how I want to convey this yet. I would either like to show sound effects by using objects that make silly sounds behind the camera as the actor moves across the screen, or I would like to physically edit a sound effect on the screen like a comic book, but very subtly by using thin neon lines or something like that to show that it is still a modern day film but is using old themes from comic books. When we watched films like 'Ex Machina' in class, I saw that the directors used neon and bright colours to show the outlines of characters and to convey unseen emotions on the screen. This would be what I would want to edit in to my short film!
SO BAD ITS GOOD: this may sound terrible, but when I was researching into films with a few friends and family members, I thought that when making a film it has to be bad to be good if you know what I mean. It makes no sense at all, but when looking at films like 'The mark of zorro', 'Baby driver', 'Deadpool', superhero films and old westerns, each of the films are so "bad" that they are good, the comedic elements, the drama, the music, the stupid characters, the criticism from passive and weak minded audiences (bit controversial), these are all things that make the films good! I saw this video on YouTube that explained the whole concept of 'so bad its good' and shows how films that are comedic, pastiche and all round silly, reel in the audiences. "Oh Hi MaRk" -->
Target audience:
When I was looking at the type of audience that I would have wanted to appeal to, I looked up different articles online that contained questions, very much like the ones I have previously done before, that helped me while planning my film. I looked at the BBFC and PEGI age ratings to see the differences between the different rating companies and how they decide which ages are suitable for certain productions.
Who Is Your Target Audience: Action Steps:
1. Who is your primary target audience?
Ex: Mid-west, male college kids who love zombie movies.
2. What makes your movie different from competing movies?
Ex: Our movie is about zombies that attack ninjas.
3. Why should your audience spend two hours watching your movie?
Ex: Fan club says: Funniest zombie movie since Shaun of the Dead!
I mean obviously I'm not going to have zombies in my film that attack ninjas, but you get the point I was trying to get across. I knew that my film would fall between 12A and 15 as an age rating, due to the fact that there would be moderate swearing and only one scene of unseen 'violence', so I began to search for examples of films and TV shows that have these ratings.
My own film: Action Steps:
1. Who is your primary target audience?
My film: Young adults/teenagers who love films like Ferris Bueler and Bill and Ted, you know, the silly teen dramedy's. and the people who are fans of pastiche superhero films like Deadpool and Guardians of the galaxy.
2. What makes your movie different from competing movies?
My film: My film is about two young adults/teenagers who are battling through a sound effect origin story, and enhancing their friendship throughout.
3. Why should your audience spend minutes or hours of their lives watching your film?
My film: The combination of conflict, friendship and comedy are binded together so well that teenagers and young adults alike would be reminded of what to enjoy in life and to take advantage of what you have.
I looked at films that appealed for 12 and over and first and saw that on the 'British board of film classification' that certain language and behaviours should not be endorsed in the film so that children of that age would see this and choose to act likewise. I knew that from this, this age rating would not appeal to my film. In the same article I saw that:
"There may be moderate bad language. Strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification." ~ BBFC.
However, when looking at films that appealed to a 12A audience, I saw that moderate swearing and unseen bits of violence could be incorporated in these films, due to the fact that my film is basically just the story of two young adults fighting through one of their illnesses which is the sound effect, I wanted them to be as realistic as possible to what people of that age act like nowadays. Again I saw that both 12 and 12A where very similar when comparing what can be included in the film:
"There may be moderate violence but it should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context." ~ BBFC.
I also looked at films that were suitable for people aged 15 and over, and saw that it was much more likely that I may use this as my film rating. But when researching further into the articles provided by the BBFC, I saw that the 12A age rating may be more appropriate for my film. Again I saw that in a 15, more violence and swearing could be conveyed without the risk of a child or younger person imitating what they have seen on screen, but in my own film, I will not be using extreme violence and swearing, it would only be the occasional swear word, and only a brief scene where the character is beaten up off screen, then suffering from a split lip later on in another scene. I saw that:
"There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification." ~ BBFC.
"Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable." ~ BBFM. (My film isn't going to be like silence of the lambs with all that sadistic eating each other business so it probably wont be a 15 either!)
I am still very unsure what my age rating for my film should be, I do have a clear idea of what is going to happen in my film, but I still do not have a clear idea of how it will turn out in my final film, so honestly, I think I will see how my film plays out to determine what the age rating will be at the end! I also saw that many of the age ratings in high grossing films or games are determined AFTER the film or production is created!
My film is just going to contain lots of comedy and all round stupidness just to be different, I would love to focus on the pastiche sub-genres of superhero films, even though my film isn't really going to be a 'superhero' film, my main protagonist still has a 'power' but isn't acting like a superhero, he is just running around with his best friend trying to sort out his life, relationships, friends, the past, everything you know? This video displayed above explains the BBFC in more detail and what is seen in certain age rated films and summarised it for me to use for my own references!
I began to collect some data from a range of questionnaires I had created, some of the questions in these were,
1. What is you gender?
2. What is your age group?
3. What is your preferred genre? (circle all that apply).
4. How do you watch films?
5. How do you prefer a film to end?
6. How many films do you watch a week on average?
7. Do you prefer a Linear (chronological) or nonlinear (goes back/forwards in time, flashbacks, flash forwards etc) narrative?
8. How long would your ideal film last?
9. What gender do you prefer to be the main protagonist?
10. What is your favourite film and what genre would you say it falls into?
The bar chart below represents the data I collected from the 'which genre do you prefer' question from my own questionnaire. It was clearly evident, and it may have been the fact that most of my participants were between the age of 16-18, that the most popular type of film genre within my class was Comedy, Drama, and Action. Now, this may also provide a biased opinion as we are all film students and all seem to have some weird opinions on films and what we like and dislike! Maybe, If I had conducted this data amongst other people outside of my film studies class, I may have had a different group of data.
"Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a work."
NewRetroWave:
This is a big inspirer for me as it really captures everything that I would have wanted to include in my own opening credits, I will have to play around and see if I can achieve the same kind of look for my own opening title that will be placed after the first dance walk scene that Peter does. This will be a lot like Baby Driver second opening scene where the camera pans down and tracks Baby as he walks, and it will also be similar to 500 days of summer when he is walking down the street and passers by join in with him. I played around with different textures and Photoshop and failed to achieve the same look as the title opening for NewRetroWave. UPDATE: tried again, I'm just a bit stupid really.
Star Wars:
Another inspirer for me is the Star Wars opening crawl, it tells the story of the main character and what each of the characters have to go through in order to get into the plot. So, basically, it just tells the whole story before you even watch the film, so really you don't even have to watch the film to understand what the plot is about. The colours emphasise the fact that they are in space and that the story is being told through words.
Peter Quill (Guardians of the galaxy):
Star lord has always been my favourite Marvel character (no, not because he's portrayed by Chris Pratt) because of his all round goofy and stupid nature, deviating from the rest of the guardians because he is a reminder of how human we can be amongst people who think differently. We all know the scene where he sticks his fingers up at the law after he is arrested by the nova and this is honestly the moment that sparked my love for his character, alongside his portrayal in the comics. I would love to incorporate Quill's nature into my own protagonist as I just love the way he acts, even though he has a tragic past, he is still able to look past this and be as silly and happy as can be, similar to what my own main character has gone through, getting these powers and being bullied his whole life, but when he is with his best friend, they are unstoppable. In Quill's case, when he is with his new family, the rag-tag group of aliens!
Ferris Bueller:
Again, I grew up watching 80's moves and still love them, so I knew Ferris Bueller was going to be another character that I would be inspired by, again he has an extremely goofy an stupid nature a lot like Peter Quill. The beginning scene of the film, Ferris pretends to be sick, faking it by fooling his parents through a fourth wall break and 'as if he was talking to you' dialogue. This was the beginning of his day off! I just love how cocky and 'typical American teenager' he acted in this film, from beginning to end, he maintained his enjoying a day off posture, 'borrowing' his best friends dads car to pick up his girlfriend who also wanted a day off, pretending to be her dad to fool the headmaster, speeding off into the city. I was mostly inspired by the use of fourth wall breaks to carry his character from the start!
I am still very unsure what my age rating for my film should be, I do have a clear idea of what is going to happen in my film, but I still do not have a clear idea of how it will turn out in my final film, so honestly, I think I will see how my film plays out to determine what the age rating will be at the end! I also saw that many of the age ratings in high grossing films or games are determined AFTER the film or production is created!
My film is just going to contain lots of comedy and all round stupidness just to be different, I would love to focus on the pastiche sub-genres of superhero films, even though my film isn't really going to be a 'superhero' film, my main protagonist still has a 'power' but isn't acting like a superhero, he is just running around with his best friend trying to sort out his life, relationships, friends, the past, everything you know? This video displayed above explains the BBFC in more detail and what is seen in certain age rated films and summarised it for me to use for my own references!
Research and Data analysis of genre and film:
I began to collect some data from a range of questionnaires I had created, some of the questions in these were,1. What is you gender?
2. What is your age group?
3. What is your preferred genre? (circle all that apply).
4. How do you watch films?
5. How do you prefer a film to end?
6. How many films do you watch a week on average?
7. Do you prefer a Linear (chronological) or nonlinear (goes back/forwards in time, flashbacks, flash forwards etc) narrative?
8. How long would your ideal film last?
9. What gender do you prefer to be the main protagonist?
10. What is your favourite film and what genre would you say it falls into?
The bar chart below represents the data I collected from the 'which genre do you prefer' question from my own questionnaire. It was clearly evident, and it may have been the fact that most of my participants were between the age of 16-18, that the most popular type of film genre within my class was Comedy, Drama, and Action. Now, this may also provide a biased opinion as we are all film students and all seem to have some weird opinions on films and what we like and dislike! Maybe, If I had conducted this data amongst other people outside of my film studies class, I may have had a different group of data.
Opening and ending credits:
Opening and ending credits was quite a difficult thing to research into, many different directors and films use different ways of using end and beginning credits, for example, Star wars has its signature beginning of the credits rolling up the screen in bright yellow, telling the majority of the plot from the offset, and films like Baby driver opens with two scenes before actually showing the beginning credits and the title of the film. Many other films have very unique opening and ending credits, showing that each film has its own unique style and flavour. Since I enjoy drawing and creating things, I want to create my own title screen, and I want it to be something retro and cool to look at. I was heavily inspired by NewRetroWave's YouTube channel opening, it looks retro and uses the same retro colour scheme that I wanted to use in my own film."Closing credits or end credits are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television program, or video game. Where opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to, or at the very end of a work."
NewRetroWave:
This is a big inspirer for me as it really captures everything that I would have wanted to include in my own opening credits, I will have to play around and see if I can achieve the same kind of look for my own opening title that will be placed after the first dance walk scene that Peter does. This will be a lot like Baby Driver second opening scene where the camera pans down and tracks Baby as he walks, and it will also be similar to 500 days of summer when he is walking down the street and passers by join in with him. I played around with different textures and Photoshop and failed to achieve the same look as the title opening for NewRetroWave. UPDATE: tried again, I'm just a bit stupid really.
Star Wars:
Music:
This title opening is from a song that my friend showed to me as it reminded her of the NewRetroWave song title, the song was called 'this groove' and had a retro feel and look to it. This may also be quite easy to achieve with editing and time, but i don't have either of those talents so i have no idea what I'm going to do, again, i could just draw it and make it into stop motion and use that as my opening and ending titles. But yes, this was also an inspirer for me.
Final Product:
Final Product:
Characters:
Another aspect that I researched into was characters and people in the media that I would want to incorporate into my own short film characters and their personalities. I was heavily inspired by the silly and goofy natures of the main characters in many teen dramedy's like Ferris Bueller and bill and ted and also the marvel superhero films with their origin stories, and was also inspired by the friendships shared by many other characters in film and TV.
Ferris Bueller:
Bill and Ted:
Once again, you can see that I just love silly 80's movies and the characters that come with them, and Bill and Ted is amongst one of my favourite teen 'dramedies' of the age. My short film follows the lives of two best friends, a lot like Bill and Ted, as they battle against one of their powers which is the sound effects. This film was useful In a whole number of ways it allowed me to visualise what I wanted my two main characters to be like and allowed me to research into different sound effect techniques. The pair, whenever something EXCELLENT happens to them in the narrative, make air guitar sounds with their hands, a lot like I wanted to happen to the male one of my main characters as he deals with his sound effect powers!
Spider man (Peter Parker):
Spider man is a perfect example of the idea of balance and Richard Dyers star theory as his character has a dual personality, the comedic side of him is the friendly neighbourhood Spider man and the more introverted side of him is Peter Parker. The performances of each of the Spider man actors was amazing but I especially loved Tom Hollands portrayal of a young Spider man, only in high school, he was able to capture his young adulthood naivety perfectly, and that's exactly what I wanted my own main protagonist to be like. My main protagonist has to deal with a duel personality, he own personal friendships and loves, and then his powers that no one else knows about other than his close friends, so you could say that my protagonists are a lot like Peter and Ned when it comes to their relationship!
Peter Parker and Ned (a continuation):
The scene I'm trying to speak about is the scene where Ned is in Peters room and Peter walks in while he wears the costume, leading to Ned finding out that he is Spider man. This helps to consolidate their friendship further, as Ned accepts Peter for who he is and that is what I want to get across in my own short film with the relationship between my two main characters. They share things, they have the same mentality and are just all round best friends, so when casting my characters, I need to find two people who share a bond like this! when sitting down and taking about the flow of my narrative, I thought that I could maybe include some kind of a mentor like the one in spider verse, who is sloppy, fat, wearing sweatpants, and retired from their powers teaching the younger person who has the same powers to accept themselves otherwise they'll turn out like they did, its would fall under the mentor/helper and trial and failure section of the heroes journey. WILL NOT be using this as I have completely scrapped one of the characters, the female protagonist, as I felt that she became irrelevant to the story. I've managed to turn her into a side character who is still important to the story, but holds less value to my main protagonist.
Joel Hammond:
Joel Hammond is the best representative of both my main protagonist and Mitch as he is the perfect kind of guy, will stick up for the people he loves and has a kind side to them, but is super nervous and skittish and has an ego bigger than my forehead. Joel is just an average realtor and father who lives in the clean and middle class suburb of Santa Clarita until his wife, Sheila, undergoes a mysterious transformation that makes her crave the living and completely dead. The passive and non confrontational character of Joel must now grow a pair and scramble to cover up a series of cannibalistic murders in order to keep his wife fed. I feel that his personality is greatly representative of my own characters, trying to be someone he really isn't.
Marty McFly:
This is another character that really inspired my film and my main protagonist Peter, as he follows the same path that my character does, wanting to go to the future, experiencing the future, and then not wanting to be in the future anymore. Where my character wants to be a hero, experiences this and sees how it ruins his life when having 'powers' and then not wanting to be a hero anymore. Throughout the films of Back to the future, the plot of my film wholly represents what happens, the main characters both have a similar backstory and overall story arc. Marty McFly is one of my main inspirations and who I have based my character of Peter on as they are very similar in a manner of different ways, and Doc also ties into this as they are both stuck in the same boat when going back to the future but Doc has more experience with it and teaches Marty some lessons.
Joel Hammond:
Joel Hammond is the best representative of both my main protagonist and Mitch as he is the perfect kind of guy, will stick up for the people he loves and has a kind side to them, but is super nervous and skittish and has an ego bigger than my forehead. Joel is just an average realtor and father who lives in the clean and middle class suburb of Santa Clarita until his wife, Sheila, undergoes a mysterious transformation that makes her crave the living and completely dead. The passive and non confrontational character of Joel must now grow a pair and scramble to cover up a series of cannibalistic murders in order to keep his wife fed. I feel that his personality is greatly representative of my own characters, trying to be someone he really isn't.Marty McFly:
Doc:
Big daddy and Hit girl:
Mr.White and Mr.Orange (reservoir dogs):
Actors:
Jeffrey Dean Morgan:
My important side character in my film, Mitch, reminds me a lot of the many characters that Morgan portrays in the film industry, and his real life self! Many of his roles reflect his out-of-character personality and this makes him such a diverse and different actor. First of all, I adored his portrayal in the walking dead and supernatural, just a couple of TV shows that I thought he was particularly talented in, others include greys anatomy and extant with Halle Berry, all in which he played roles that really fit him as a person. In real life, his style and personality really reflect my character, Mitch, a middle aged husband and dad who is goofy and lovable, unlike his portrayal of many of his on screen roles. from the start I just knew that I wanted Mitch to be a mixture of Morgan's off screen personality and his on screen roles, Mitch being a retired, middle aged superhero, with a lack of morale and a big mouth, but also goofy, funny and willing to have a laugh if he really needs to!
Tom Holland:
I know that everyone thinks he was a crap spider man and a bit of a cringe actor, I think so too, but I honestly love the way he executed his performance of a young spider man and his relationship with the other key characters. Hollands personality in real life also reflects how I want my main protagonist to act, a bit stupid and just an all round funny guy. That one interview where he is speaking of his first audition meeting Robert Downy Jr's stunt double, we've all heard it, the "Oh mY GoD It's RoBerT DoWnY jR" phrase used everywhere and edited onto that one scene from the film, that's the interview that made me think, yeah, that's how I see my main protagonist. Both my main protagonist and Mitch is very similar but different if you know what I mean, they share the same sense of humour and all but they have very different backgrounds. Mitch being the brawny, hard-boiled, dark humoured, retired superhero trying to help my main protagonist through his powers, and my main protagonist being a goofy, eccentric, bouncy, music fuelled young man dealing with his new powers that are seemingly ruining his life. (honestly though, he is nowhere near my favourite Spider man but he kinda is).
Robert Downy Jr:
Robert Downy Jr or formally known as Tony Stark is one of the most influential and impactful stars of today, rising from the very bottom all the way to the top, inspiring many young people. Robert reminded me of my own character Mitch, mainly because in his many films, he acts as a mentor for a young Peter Parker, very similar to the relationship shared by Mitch and Peter. I'm starting to see a pattern with the actors I'm researching into, they all look like the actors I'm using in my own film, well, is it a good thing? Yes absolutely. He shares the same I-think-I-know-everything attitude with Mitch, but Mitch Is the complete opposite when it comes to the whole billionaire philanthropist thing, he's more of a poor, retired superhero, with no purpose in life other than to carry on his legacy. (I wont spoil Endgame, but we all know that this is going to be the case for Spider man, and Tony's family!) But yes, Robert Downy Jr really reminds me of my character Mitch again for the personality and the way they react to people who want to be just like them, and the fact that they have the same morale and way of life.
Keanu reeves:
What can I say about Keanu reeves, well, he's been one of my favourite actors for a long while now, as I just love the way he can pop in and out of different characters without even realising it. In real life, he is such a down to earth guy who lives like anyone else and doesn't flaunt what he has, he likes to live normally and the way any other person would and not take advantage of his title as a 'celebrity'. He rides motorcycles and gives all of his money away to people that he thinks deserve it more than him, which I think is the loveliest thing ever, and the reason why he is so greatly respected as a person and as an actor. His portrayal of Ted Logan, John Wick and Neo alongside his many other roles really inspired me as he is just such a lovely guy, and is a person you would want anyone to idolise! He reminds me a lot of my supporting character Mitch, a down to earth, kind, quiet guy who can still turn and John Wick a room of people. Mitch Is a reflection of John Wick in my eyes, as he is still just a man, who was loved by and loved his family but is still the last thing that many men see (that sounded so bad but you get what I'm saying).
My important side character in my film, Mitch, reminds me a lot of the many characters that Morgan portrays in the film industry, and his real life self! Many of his roles reflect his out-of-character personality and this makes him such a diverse and different actor. First of all, I adored his portrayal in the walking dead and supernatural, just a couple of TV shows that I thought he was particularly talented in, others include greys anatomy and extant with Halle Berry, all in which he played roles that really fit him as a person. In real life, his style and personality really reflect my character, Mitch, a middle aged husband and dad who is goofy and lovable, unlike his portrayal of many of his on screen roles. from the start I just knew that I wanted Mitch to be a mixture of Morgan's off screen personality and his on screen roles, Mitch being a retired, middle aged superhero, with a lack of morale and a big mouth, but also goofy, funny and willing to have a laugh if he really needs to!Tom Holland:
I know that everyone thinks he was a crap spider man and a bit of a cringe actor, I think so too, but I honestly love the way he executed his performance of a young spider man and his relationship with the other key characters. Hollands personality in real life also reflects how I want my main protagonist to act, a bit stupid and just an all round funny guy. That one interview where he is speaking of his first audition meeting Robert Downy Jr's stunt double, we've all heard it, the "Oh mY GoD It's RoBerT DoWnY jR" phrase used everywhere and edited onto that one scene from the film, that's the interview that made me think, yeah, that's how I see my main protagonist. Both my main protagonist and Mitch is very similar but different if you know what I mean, they share the same sense of humour and all but they have very different backgrounds. Mitch being the brawny, hard-boiled, dark humoured, retired superhero trying to help my main protagonist through his powers, and my main protagonist being a goofy, eccentric, bouncy, music fuelled young man dealing with his new powers that are seemingly ruining his life. (honestly though, he is nowhere near my favourite Spider man but he kinda is).
Robert Downy Jr:
Keanu reeves:
Tim Roth:
Okay, so, Tim Roth is nothing but an amazing actor, he serves the audience with incredibly realistic acting skills, and allowing audiences to be completely immersed within his performance. He reminds me a lot of Peter in my own film due to his over dramatised nature and spectacular personality, he reminds me a little of my other main character Mitch due to his suave nature and old 60's style and way of life. He is continuously ridiculed for his performance in reservoir dogs, because he was squealing too much or being too over dramatised, but i thought he pulled off his performance amazingly throughout this film, even though thought the vast majority of the film, he is laying on the floor either squealing or breathing funny. (but he really was a great inspiration for me throughout his whole acting career for both of my main characters!).
Clint Eastwood:
Clint Eastwood is someone who I have basically grown up watching and admiring for his roles in Dirty Harry, his western series, and the films that sparked my love for his acting was For a few dollars more and The Outlaw Josey Wales. I have always been an avid lover of western films as their contrived and action packed nature always stuck out to me, the scenery and lighting used by these films also shone to me, with Clint Eastwood roles solidifying this. When he decided that his last role would be in Unforgiven, another western which he starred alongside Morgan Freeman, due to the fact that he didn't want his role to be too repeatative and never ending, with Unforgiven showing his last role to be a beaten up, ruthless old outlaw turned pig farmer and father. His almost silent, but deadly nature, really inspired me in my films, with my main character, Mitch, being a mysterious, beaten up and retired old superhero with no purpose in life other than to act the way he does silently. But Clint Eastwood is an actor that I have always held a deep appreciation and respect for for his western roles and overall demeanour, and he has always been the most prominent inspirer for me when writing or creating.
Okay, so, Tim Roth is nothing but an amazing actor, he serves the audience with incredibly realistic acting skills, and allowing audiences to be completely immersed within his performance. He reminds me a lot of Peter in my own film due to his over dramatised nature and spectacular personality, he reminds me a little of my other main character Mitch due to his suave nature and old 60's style and way of life. He is continuously ridiculed for his performance in reservoir dogs, because he was squealing too much or being too over dramatised, but i thought he pulled off his performance amazingly throughout this film, even though thought the vast majority of the film, he is laying on the floor either squealing or breathing funny. (but he really was a great inspiration for me throughout his whole acting career for both of my main characters!).Clint Eastwood:
Clint Eastwood is someone who I have basically grown up watching and admiring for his roles in Dirty Harry, his western series, and the films that sparked my love for his acting was For a few dollars more and The Outlaw Josey Wales. I have always been an avid lover of western films as their contrived and action packed nature always stuck out to me, the scenery and lighting used by these films also shone to me, with Clint Eastwood roles solidifying this. When he decided that his last role would be in Unforgiven, another western which he starred alongside Morgan Freeman, due to the fact that he didn't want his role to be too repeatative and never ending, with Unforgiven showing his last role to be a beaten up, ruthless old outlaw turned pig farmer and father. His almost silent, but deadly nature, really inspired me in my films, with my main character, Mitch, being a mysterious, beaten up and retired old superhero with no purpose in life other than to act the way he does silently. But Clint Eastwood is an actor that I have always held a deep appreciation and respect for for his western roles and overall demeanour, and he has always been the most prominent inspirer for me when writing or creating.
My own characters:
Before I could think properly about my characters, I had to research into different characters from films and TV shows that would reflect the personalities of my own characters, and because I am useless at research and imagination, I looked up what makes a character that an audience would love.
What is a Character Description?
When you first meet a character in a screenplay, a character description tells the reader how they should picture that person in their mind.
- What are they wearing?
- Where are they going?
When you first meet a character in a screenplay, a character description tells the reader how they should picture that person in their mind.
- What are they wearing?
- Where are they going?
- How do they carry themselves?
- What are their characteristics?
My main protagonist (male):
My main character is male and largely follows the nature of the previous research into characters that I have done before. I firstly asked myself questions about my character and adopted the character as my own, and stepped into their shoes.
What are they wearing? - they are going to be wearing very typical clothing for what a person that age would wear, it doesn't really matter what the character wears, as long as it is just normal and not extremely over the top!
Where are they going? - the main objective of my main protagonist is to get the girl, just like any typical superhero pastiche movie, but he fails terribly at this and results in his sudden fall into depression as no one accepts him with his powers, and then this knock back begins to reinforce his friendship with his best friend as she is the only one who really knows who he is and accepts him.
How do they carry themselves? - they carry themselves very stoically at the beginning of the film, not showing that the acceptance is affecting him in any way, but as the girl of his dreams rejects him, he falls into a state where he shows the full force of male vulnerability and makes himself feel small due to the fact that no one is accepting him.
What are their characteristics? - my main protagonist is very stoic, and holds himself seriously, however, the side of him that is goofy and stupid and easily excitable is blossomed by his best friend who is also a main protagonist that helps him through his power struggle. He is very scatty and doesn't really know what to do with himself half the time but is reinforced by the other main character, and this is where we see the platonic nature of their friendship, the audience is told from the beginning that they are just friends and the love interest is introduced later on. The other female protagonist is now non-existent, she is no longer part of the film and narrative.
My main protagonist who still doesn't have a name, because I'm a but stupid and not very good at this, as you can see by the laziness of Mitch's character, I literally just condensed my own second name... anyway. My main character was initially going to be called Bryan or Peter but then these names don't really suit the actor. Its rewind time! I finally decided to call him Peter out of the fact that this is the name of most well known superhero's and the main fact that I didn't have a name for him a week before starting to make the film, but that's besides the point.
So, in easier terms,
My main protagonist (male):
My main character is male and largely follows the nature of the previous research into characters that I have done before. I firstly asked myself questions about my character and adopted the character as my own, and stepped into their shoes.
What are they wearing? - they are going to be wearing very typical clothing for what a person that age would wear, it doesn't really matter what the character wears, as long as it is just normal and not extremely over the top!
Where are they going? - the main objective of my main protagonist is to get the girl, just like any typical superhero pastiche movie, but he fails terribly at this and results in his sudden fall into depression as no one accepts him with his powers, and then this knock back begins to reinforce his friendship with his best friend as she is the only one who really knows who he is and accepts him.
How do they carry themselves? - they carry themselves very stoically at the beginning of the film, not showing that the acceptance is affecting him in any way, but as the girl of his dreams rejects him, he falls into a state where he shows the full force of male vulnerability and makes himself feel small due to the fact that no one is accepting him.
What are their characteristics? - my main protagonist is very stoic, and holds himself seriously, however, the side of him that is goofy and stupid and easily excitable is blossomed by his best friend who is also a main protagonist that helps him through his power struggle. He is very scatty and doesn't really know what to do with himself half the time but is reinforced by the other main character, and this is where we see the platonic nature of their friendship, the audience is told from the beginning that they are just friends and the love interest is introduced later on. The other female protagonist is now non-existent, she is no longer part of the film and narrative.
My main protagonist who still doesn't have a name, because I'm a but stupid and not very good at this, as you can see by the laziness of Mitch's character, I literally just condensed my own second name... anyway. My main character was initially going to be called Bryan or Peter but then these names don't really suit the actor. Its rewind time! I finally decided to call him Peter out of the fact that this is the name of most well known superhero's and the main fact that I didn't have a name for him a week before starting to make the film, but that's besides the point.
So, in easier terms,
Full name: __________
Other names:
Personality: cocky, witty, thinks he is the coolest person on planet earth, profound, charismatic, quiet at times, nostalgic, stoic, thinks he is a hero, a bit dumb, stupid sense of humour.
Occupation: friendly neighbourhood idiot.
Alignment: good guy or the protagonist.
Affiliations: the bigger friendly neighbourhood idiot.
"He has some heroic traits, but Peter Quill is no angel, and has eked out a living through petty theft, cons, and other criminal activity. While he has no superpowers, his quick wits favour him in conversation and in battle, and he often manages to find unlikely solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems."
My own version: He has some heroic traits, like wanting to beat up people brawnier than him to save old ladies, but he is no angel. He attempts to be the friendly neighbourhood superhero, but this fails miserably due to his new 'powers' that cause everything he does to make a sound effect. While he has these useless powers, his quick witty nature and cockiness favour him in fights and with the ladies, but often manages to find unlikely situations to meddle in. I also looked at videos on YouTube to see how to convey a comedic character without making them seem cheesy, stupid, and lazily made, and once again, I stumbled across more videos on Edgar Wright and he is my favourite director anyway so it doesn't matter to me! Edgar Wrights films and directing has REALLY inspired me as you can probably tell!
Peter:
Peter is my main protagonist in my short film and is a wholehearted, music fuelled, eccentric young man with a heart of gold, until he is affected by the sound effect which is the main problem in the film. Peter has to battle through both the sound effect and the obstacle of a gang who is out to get him and Mitch, my developed side character who acts as a mentor to Peter.
Peter has a very diverse personality in my eyes, he is cocky, witty, thinks everyone he meets will love him, profound, charismatic, loud and bubbly, nostalgic, stoic, a bit dumb, has a very strange sense of humour and has a heart of gold. His occupation is the friendly neighbourhood idiot and his alignment is the good guy or the main protagonist. We see the main development of this character when he gets his powers, before he has these powers he has a tonne of friends, everyone loves him, he is a young boy with a heart of gold and is extremely nostalgic, once he gets his powers, his life begins its slow and painful decline into loneliness, his friends and loves begin to disown him and his life takes a quick but unexpected turn.
He is a persistent smile until the unfortunate fight in the alley that was a complete knock back for him as a person, having to be saved by an older superhero with high morale wasn't what he expected. He wears casual clothing most of the time, with at least one item being themed like a superhero to stick with his theme of friendly neighbourhood idiot.
Peter has a very clouded back story, he has a family who loved him and a whole manner of friends, he was the talk of the town before he got his powers, the life of the party. He has a continuous love interest throughout his life and is soon to be rejected by her, causing his downward spiral into madness. He meets Mitch in his youth, stumbling into a mugging by accident and being threatened by gang members, Mitch finds his fellow gang members and teaches them a lesson, right in front of Peter, in which he then wants to be a superhero like him. He bumps into him again later on in life, running into a mugging, in which he thinks this is his time to shine. He tries to help the old lady, only to be beaten to a pulp by Mitch's gang members sons, Mitch comes along, seeing the commotion, rescuing Peter from the situation. Peter gets his powers here, which then sparks the mentor bond between Mitch and Peter.
Mitch:
Mitch is a supporting side character in my film as I thought rather than attempting to write two main protagonists and then fail miserably, I thought I would rather write a really good Main character and a really good supporting character.
Mitch, my supporting character, is a retired, hard boiled, 'superhero' with high morale and a heart of gold. He acts as a mentor to Peter who is in the same boat as him with having powers that only allow them to make sound effects, and make them the laughing stock of many. Mitch has a strange back story, running with a gang for his whole life, lending money to people and then having a view to a kill if they did something they didn't like or didn't repay the money, they were the biggest loan shark, money launderers in the city. Mitch however, was the most plentiful and resourceful of the gang, starting off as a tragic ex cop with a lack of morale and hatred of authority, he would do anything for the gang, even if it risked his own back.
Mitch got his powers beating a man to death just to keep the gang on his back going, they man didn't want to repay them, so he took it too far, attempting to extinguish Mitch in a back alley in order to stick his fingers up at the money launderers. Mitch, in extreme anger, gets rid of the man, going against his own ideals in order to keep his gang going. Here, Mitch gains his powers, he is burdened with these powers for the rest of his life, as good things don't happen to bad people.
Mitch has always been a kind heated, quiet but big mouthed, gang member, who is the most plentiful of the group, looked up to by his peers, he gives off a visage of brutality and hatred for many, but he is actually a guy who likes to stick to his ideals no mater the consequences. Mitch's alignment is the hero or side character who has a past of being a brutal gang member.
Other characters:
My other characters will mostly be side characters or extras, this is the list of people I will be using.
- Bad guy 1 and 2 (older, Mitch's fellow gang members.)
- Bad guy 1 and 2 (younger, the sons of Mitch's fellow gang members.)
- Girl 1 and girl 2 (Peters age, doctors office, they will be there to mock him.)
- Old lady (for both the mugging scenes.)
- Man 1 (for a quick flashback of when Mitch finds the guy who owes the gang money.)
These characters are not as important as Peter or Mitch, but they still hold value to the narrative and the way it flows.
Setting and props:
So far, the settings that I will be using are a street, the outside of a chip shop, an alleyway, a doctors office to be used throughout, a restaurant or a fast food chain, a back garden, a forest maybe, and a rooftop or random place that wont really be seen, exclusively in that order.
When I was researching into locations that I wanted to use in my film, I firstly started to look at places that I wanted to use in my 'in the street' scenes. I wanted to use somewhere that was quite pretty and scenic but bustling, you know? like somewhere up in London.
The first place I researched into was Liverpool street, I remember going up there not that long ago to explore, as you do, and there was a really pretty marketplace and street alley that I thought would look really good in my film. So, I sat down with my friend, because he is always up in London, and looked at some places.
This isn't the exact place but, just as you walk around the corner, there is a really nice street that look just like the street scene from baby driver, which obviously was what I was going for. It doesn't really matter here the street scenes are filmed, a long as I can get a street! I was just thinking that if I was to film somewhere in London, I'll need to get lot of permission from people and it will just be a really long and complicated process that I don't really want to do, so I may just film locally so then I have access to the other settings that I want like the chip hop, and the restaurant and the other one like the garden and so on. But it would be cool to film somewhere really nice, just to give the film that 'not really a student short film' vibe to it.
This scene in baby driver where he dances around to the Harlem shuffle, little pieces of the song appearing around in the setting. The graffiti and the hop in the scene matched very much that of Liverpool street and other places in London, so I thought that it could have been a really cool thing to react, but due to the fact that I will probably have to tell every person in London what I am dong, I might just avoid it altogether. I think sticking to my local area will be my best bet because I know everyone and getting permission wont be difficult to obtain, than compared to filming in London.
Another place that I wanted to use in my film is a back garden, it doesn't even have to be seen, but I just need a scene where its really rustic, teenage party kind of looking, its only for a VERY brief scene that is going to be where the main protagonist goes to try and get with a girl, who soon enough just rejects him anyway because of his 'powers' that he thought would give him even more of a chance, when in fact, it has made his life even worse. The camera will then pan around the girl as this scene happens, with some cringe song playing in the background to emphasis his big ego and the fact that he is in love with this girl.
The other places, that don't really matter about the location of is the alleyway and a doctors office in which I could probably use my own school for that because of how white and pristine everything looks! We have a desk at the front of the school as you walk in which I could maybe use for the reception of the doctors office and the rest of the scenes can be worked out when it's being filmed.
Another location that I will be using in my film is a house, I could just use my own house as it has everything that I would need to film, and I wouldn't have to persuade anyone to let me borrow their house! I will just need a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a hallway for him to Rock star slide across wooden floor, a bit random but, it's a comedy, anything can happen.
When I was researching into locations that I wanted to use in my film, I firstly started to look at places that I wanted to use in my 'in the street' scenes. I wanted to use somewhere that was quite pretty and scenic but bustling, you know? like somewhere up in London.
The first place I researched into was Liverpool street, I remember going up there not that long ago to explore, as you do, and there was a really pretty marketplace and street alley that I thought would look really good in my film. So, I sat down with my friend, because he is always up in London, and looked at some places.
This isn't the exact place but, just as you walk around the corner, there is a really nice street that look just like the street scene from baby driver, which obviously was what I was going for. It doesn't really matter here the street scenes are filmed, a long as I can get a street! I was just thinking that if I was to film somewhere in London, I'll need to get lot of permission from people and it will just be a really long and complicated process that I don't really want to do, so I may just film locally so then I have access to the other settings that I want like the chip hop, and the restaurant and the other one like the garden and so on. But it would be cool to film somewhere really nice, just to give the film that 'not really a student short film' vibe to it.
Another place that I wanted to use in my film is a back garden, it doesn't even have to be seen, but I just need a scene where its really rustic, teenage party kind of looking, its only for a VERY brief scene that is going to be where the main protagonist goes to try and get with a girl, who soon enough just rejects him anyway because of his 'powers' that he thought would give him even more of a chance, when in fact, it has made his life even worse. The camera will then pan around the girl as this scene happens, with some cringe song playing in the background to emphasis his big ego and the fact that he is in love with this girl. The other places, that don't really matter about the location of is the alleyway and a doctors office in which I could probably use my own school for that because of how white and pristine everything looks! We have a desk at the front of the school as you walk in which I could maybe use for the reception of the doctors office and the rest of the scenes can be worked out when it's being filmed.
Props:
The first prop that I wanted was fake blood, not heaps of it because its not a violent horror film, its just for the subtle scene where Peter has a bleeding nose and when Peter witnesses a mugging at the start of the film. It literally just going to be put on a tissue for one scene and then used on Mitch's face in another scene, I may need some scar wax or something, or I could just use non-toxic glue and paint to create a scar on Mitch's face, I don't know why he has one, but I just like adding subtle little details to shape a characters story. 
The second prop that I wanted is a bang flag gun, it has to look fake just so I don't get in trouble for the use of weapons on screen, but it will only be used for very brief scene where Peter goes to kill himself, only for this to be stopped by Mitch who replaces the insides with a bang flag and a note from him that says "don't be a dumb ass - Mitch". This is just going to be a reference to the fact that it isn't all over and dark gloom when something bad happens, an that it only takes one good act to pull you out of it all.
The third prop that I wanted was a superhero backpack for the younger version of Peter in the beginning of the film. I feel that this is an important prop as it shows what his character is going to be like for the rest of the film and leaves the audience to wonder what the whole plot of the film actually going to be about. Its a bit pointless in the long run, but in my opinion it means so much to both the character and the story. I managed to find a super cheap one on amazon for £5, there was one for £1 something but it was super duper small and didn't really look like a backpack, it was more of a mini satchel. But this is definitely the one I will be buying.
Another set of props that I will be using are kids drawings and just superhero memorabilia in general as it will be used in the young Peter's scene at the beginning and the short flashback montage scene which involves him giving Mitch a drawing of a superhero as he just rescued the old lady who was mugged. I can tell I'm waffling so i think I'm gonna stop typing now, oh no I'm still going, oh well, this is another prop I'm gonna be using.
The second prop that I wanted is a bang flag gun, it has to look fake just so I don't get in trouble for the use of weapons on screen, but it will only be used for very brief scene where Peter goes to kill himself, only for this to be stopped by Mitch who replaces the insides with a bang flag and a note from him that says "don't be a dumb ass - Mitch". This is just going to be a reference to the fact that it isn't all over and dark gloom when something bad happens, an that it only takes one good act to pull you out of it all.
Practise camera shots:
This shot is an over the shoulder shot in which a character is looking into something, looking at something, or interacting with another character. Throughout my film studies course, I have seen this shot being used in a number of powerful ways, for example, one that was most memorable was in A bout de souffle. We are present inside the car with he main protagonist, as he rants about France in a patriotic way, here we are further introduced to his character, and are more aware of the scene, and the characters mannerisms.This is an close up shot which allows an audience to become quite close and intimate with the main character, and shows certain body parts of the character. I achieved this shot by gaining inspiration from a number of different films throughout the course. This was shown clearly within Guardians of the galaxy, when peter quill rescues gammora from the dark depths of space, this becomes a close, but almost awkward scene as the camera becomes so intimate with both of the main protagonists.
Theorists:
Steve Neale:Steve Neale's theory consists of repetition and difference. He states that genres should all contain instances of repetition and difference, this is essential to the economy of the genre.
He states that it is defined by two things:
- How much it conforms to the genres individual conventions and stereotypes, a film must match the genres conventions to be a part of that genre.
- How much a film subverts the genres conventions and stereotypes, it much subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone or copy of a film that's already out.
He states that Hollywood has a generic regime of two functions:
- The guarantee of pleasure and meaning for the audience.
- To offset financial risks of film production by providing collateral against innovation and difference.
What inspired me for my own film:
- To carefully choose the genre for my own short film, and to stick to it throughout the whole process of making the film, which I have actually managed to do.
- To achieve an aspect of pleasure and meaning for the audience, and to make the film contain more than just basic elements and to interest and keep the audience watching.
Daniel Chandler:
Genres, according to Chandler, create order to simplify the mass of available information.
He states that genre is defined by certain things:
- they should be able to create order to simplify the mass of available information within a film, condensing it down to its most significant and memorable moments.
- genre should be visually semiotic, and not unappealing to the eye, and should be able to make sense fairly early on in the film.
He states that Hollywood has a generic regime of certain functions:
- it should be able to condense and make it easy for the audience to interpret and understand.
- viewer's should only see the most appealing and memorable moments of cinema in order to be satisfied.
- they should be able to create order to simplify the mass of available information within a film, condensing it down to its most significant and memorable moments.
- genre should be visually semiotic, and not unappealing to the eye, and should be able to make sense fairly early on in the film.
He states that Hollywood has a generic regime of certain functions:
- it should be able to condense and make it easy for the audience to interpret and understand.
- viewer's should only see the most appealing and memorable moments of cinema in order to be satisfied.
What inspired me for my own film:
- in order to condense and make my short film easy to interpret, I should only really include the most significant and memorable moments.
- I should simplify the amount that will be in my short film, to make my life easier when filming and editing, and to appeal more to a modern audience.
- in order to condense and make my short film easy to interpret, I should only really include the most significant and memorable moments.
- I should simplify the amount that will be in my short film, to make my life easier when filming and editing, and to appeal more to a modern audience.
David Buckingham:
David Buckingham argues that 'genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change'.
He states that genre is defined by certain things:
- that genre should not be just provided to the audience in a simple form, but should be a construct of something more complex.
- film is a process of negotiation and change rather than just a simple, boring structure that is placed on a silver platter for the audience.
He states that Hollywood has a generic regime of certain functions:
- film should be complex and should make the audience think and feel certain emotions and things.
- viewers will only be satisfied by film once they have used their own minds to figure out the plot if the story.
David Buckingham argues that 'genre is not... simply "given" by the culture: rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change'.
He states that genre is defined by certain things:
- that genre should not be just provided to the audience in a simple form, but should be a construct of something more complex.
- film is a process of negotiation and change rather than just a simple, boring structure that is placed on a silver platter for the audience.
He states that Hollywood has a generic regime of certain functions:
- film should be complex and should make the audience think and feel certain emotions and things.
- viewers will only be satisfied by film once they have used their own minds to figure out the plot if the story.
What inspired me for my own film:
- to create a film that challenges the audience in what they think and feel while watching the film.
- to enhance the amount that is shown on the screen and to challenge the audience.
- to create a film that challenges the audience in what they think and feel while watching the film.
- to enhance the amount that is shown on the screen and to challenge the audience.
Research and inspiration:
When I firstly started to research into what I thought would inspire me for my short film, I looked for directors and other media that I would eventually incorporate into my own short film. I think I'm gonna need a bigger blog...
Films:
Baby Driver:
Baby Driver is one of my favourite films and I knew that I had to include at least one scene from the film into my own. One scene in particular that inspired me is the opening scene of the film. Baby moves around the screen with a spring in his step listening to music, introducing what his character is going to be like throughout the rest of the film, and establishing him as the main protagonist. There is also a heavy use of tracking shots in this scene, allowing the audience to follow him through his journey to the coffee shop. I also was inspired by the fact that certain lyrics in the song appeared in the streets as he moved, for example the brass instrument shop appearing in one scene when the brass instruments began to play in the song, and the lyrics placed randomly around the screen within the setting. Edgar Wrights films as a whole were huge inspirations to me, with the debate as to whether he is too 'English' to create American films, from this moment I knew that he was going to be an inspiration to me as he rose from the ashes and continued doing what he was doing even though audiences were pointing out every problem with his 'American' based films like Baby Driver.
Reservoir Dogs:
The wondrous and violent nature of Tarantino's films have greatly influenced the film industry during his reign in the cinematic world, still randomly popping out with a new film for a neo noir audience. This scene in particular, the opening scene which already introduces us to our characters personalities and vaguer just through their walking through the street in a bad ass Slow-Mo shot with "little green bag" playing in the background, telling us of our actors and our film title at the same time. Tarantino's overall aesthetic and film making style is quite extraordinary. His use of 60's stylist and characterisation makes his films incredibly unique and flavourful.
Guardians Of The Galaxy:
Guardians of the galaxy's opening scene is very similar to Baby drivers opening, with the main character dancing to music, establishing them as the main protagonist and showing what their character is going to be like before the audience have even heard any dialogue from them! I was heavily inspired by Peter Quills character as he is goofy, stupid and dedicated to music, which will act as the 'remedy' for my own protagonists 'powers'. I wanted to see how the characters move around the screen in superhero films, the really silly superhero's that the comic universes hate, like Peter Quill and the guardians and I wanted to see how the anti-heroes act. Since we analysed this scene before for our exam work, I knew what micro-elements were used to create Quill's character in the scene and how this was carried by the music that he was listening to. Music and soundtrack is a key motif in this film which I want to be a key motif in my own film as I want my character to share the same characteristics as the main protagonist in guardians.
The use of old music to reinforce the main character and to contrast what is happening in the scene really stood out to me and this is what I would want to use in my own film. I was also inspired by how superhero films convey pastiche and stupid heroes through similar elements, its always music and sarcastic jokes and the nature of the main protagonist, his love for music, the spring in his step and his over-the-top personality.
The Pit:
The Pit is a short film that I recently watched staring one of my favourite motion capture actors, Bryan Dechart. I was heavily inspired by the very brief romance scene at a party, very similar to what I was going for in my own film! I stumbled across this short film after finishing a game called 'Detroit Become Human', as I was curious as to see what the actors performed like outside of the motion capture! The film manages to fuse comedic and dramatic elements, and is a fun, stylish and entertaining portrayal of early twenty-somethings in Bushwick. Inspired by such films as "dazed and confused" and "masculine feminine", the film serves both as a snapshot of the current hipster and teen scene in Brooklyn and around the world and an exploration of the pitfalls of attempting to integrate oneself in a largely apathetic and hedonistic counter-culture.
Shaun of the dead:
Shaun of the dead and the series that the dynamic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost was a part of is very hard not to sit back an enjoy, its a good laugh, but still is able to convey some dramatic elements as well as comedy. I have been inspired by this film through Edgar Wrights use of Chekhov's gun and the use of music to emphasise a scene. Chekhov's gun is used in many scenes throughout the film, but the Winchester gun scene really stood out to me. Near the beginning of the film, the two main protagonists are sitting in the pub drinking, as they do in most of the films, and notice a gun on the wall, Ed, asking if it works, the more 'aware' Shaun says that it obviously wouldn't work because its a pub not a shooting range. However, later on in the film once the apocalypse has broken out, they are back in the same pub, Queen playing loudly in the background, fighting of zombies, you know, as you do when listening to Queen. Again, Ed asks if the gun works, earning an angry NO from Shaun who is busy fighting a zombie to pay attention to Ed, only for the gun to go off and smash the glasses behind the bar, Ed holding a sarcastic 'I told you so' grin.
As a condensed version of the previous paragraph, I would love to incorporate in my own film from this film, Chekhov's gun to show a side prop and how it becomes a main prop later on in the film, and the relationship between Ed and Shaun during the apocalypse and how silly and comedic their characters are amidst it all. The relationship between Ed and Shaun is what I want to be shared by Peter and the mentor, Mitch. This, once again will probably only be referred to a couple of times because of the fact that we only have 5 minutes to make this film which is not a lot of time at all when compared to the size of my script, again, oops.
Spiderman: into the spider verse:
When speaking to my teacher about how I will convey the sound effects in my production, he mentioned the film 'Spiderman: Into The Spider verse'. So, that weekend, I went off to the cinema and watched the film to get a glimpse of what the sound effects looked like, taking mental notes as I watched. We ended up coming up with the idea of using actual expected sounds of objects, for example, when drinking out of a glass, you expect a 'glug' sound to come from it, that's if you are one of those people who drink REALLY loudly. We found that in the new animated Spiderman, speech bubbles and little pieces of text were used to show a noise or object appearing on screen. for example, when a bagel was thrown across the screen, the word 'bagel' would appear in a speech bubble. it would be a complicated and time consuming task to do in my own short film, but if it was used scarcely and when necessary, it would keep the structure of my production, and add a new type of media to it as if it was a professionally made film.
I wanted to use neon lines or just moving lines in the film to edit on to the screen to show the sound effects and the use of unheard onomatopoeia through on screen sound effects.
(These look like a whole jumble of films so far that have no links AT ALL, but they do come together as a mix and match of different film elements and terminology that will hopefully be able to weave into my own production, but still, considering I have no film making experience, I think its going pretty well! Not...)
Another scene from this film that I thought would really fit in my own film was mentioned by my coursework teacher, he said that rather than having a miss match of multiple characters and having to introduce someone to help my main protagonist, I could have some kind of mentor instead of a friend to help him. It could be an overweight, sweatpants wearing, retired superhero who tries to make the main protagonist come to terms with themselves and to just get on with the powers and use them for good rather than their own purposes.
Deadpool:
Deadpool I obviously very rude and an 18 but I love the way marvel used fourth all breaks in the film to shape Wade Wilson into the character we know and love, this I what I wanted to do in my own film to convey my own main character, just without the rude jokes (there might be a few implicit ones...) and suggestive humour because I don't want to get in trouble... but anyway I still will be using toned down humour to convey my own character! When you look at the micro elements of Deadpool there are so many! But fourth wall breaks and really cheesy and stupid humour is my specialty, so in my own film it wont be a problem. I really want to show people that I'm not just the boring quiet kid, I want to make a film that actually reflects ME as a person, and to show everyone what its really all about!
Looking into this film in more depth, I really think that my min protagonist is still going to have the same mentality as Wade Wilson, just minus the excessive swearing and crude jokes, but plus the sarcastic humour and dumb comments that none wants to hear. In my film he is going to try and make his own suit and will flick through his computer looking at spandex suits, trying to be the heroes that he has looked up to for so long.
Spiderman: homecoming:
As much as I love the original Spiderman films, they didn't quite remind me of the characters in my own film, even though the older films followed the idea of balancing out their two sides that I wanted to convey in my own short film, the characters didn't share the same friendly relationships and personalities that I wanted for my own characters. Peter Parker being the one with the powers and having to deal with being both himself and Spiderman to impress people, and Ned being the sidekick friend who helps him and knows what he is gong through. I may not be using this now as I have erased my main female protagonist just to make the narrative easier to understand and the fact that she became irrelevant to the story after a while as I was skimming through my old treatment.
So again, when flicking back through these films, I found that the whole relationship that i wanted gong on between the two best friends in my own film is going to be removed because of the limited amount of actors (and friends) that I have so its just a one man show now, including the mentor who tries to help Peter through his new powers. My main character, Peter, will have the same mentality as a young Peter Parker, scatty and clever, but again saying things that none really wants to hear and the fact that he is desperately trying to be a superhero all of the time.
Scott Pilgrim:
Scott Pilgrim was another film that has really inspired me and was only just recently recommended to me by a friend who has been helping and supporting me through this really confusing and long process of making the final film! This scene in particular really caught my eye as it is exactly what I envisioned for my own montage scene in my film, he gets home, tests out his new 'powers', dances around like an idiot thinking he is the coolest person on planet earth, falling over a few times as he slides across the floor brushing his teeth with a squeaky sound, looking through the computer for costumes as every superhero has one, and then tying his shoes really slowly as he still doesn't know how to tie them properly and then running out of the door to test the 'powers' on a group of muggers. This also conveys my genre of comedy as there is a fast and overall brief scene of montage of testing out the 'powers' and then a really long zoomed in scene of the protagonists feet as he ties his shoelaces really slowly, also adding to the morality of the film.
500 days of summer:
I researched a lot in 'walking' scenes in films, where the protagonist has just accomplished something and does the happy skip down the street, greeting everyone in their path. This is what I wanted to achieve in my own short film in the walking scene as he is just having fun and enjoying himself listening to his music, but then the scene changes to him trying to help an old lady who has just been mugged, it sort of shows contrast and how quickly things can change. This scene in particular from 500 days of summer was sent to me from a friend who thought that this should be how the walking scene plays out, alongside the listening to music from baby driver. My protagonist is very much like most of these characters, a bubbly, and happy-go-lucky young adult in the prime of life.
We came to the conclusion that we wanted to use the scene from this where he looks not a car door and sees Han Solo in the reflection of himself, again not my idea as I am poor and don't have the money to properly edit that in, it was all my friends idea and nothing to do with me. (Although, how cool would that be! Okay stop dreaming Daisy...) I've NEVER made a film before unlike the rest of my classmates and am so confused by the cameras and the editing and the putting the soundtrack in to the point that it is really S T R E S S I N G me out! I really would like to reflect this scene in my own walking scene as Peter walks, well dances, through the street listening to 80's music.
The Incredibles (original trailer):
The Incredibles (original trailer):
Just recently, I thought that my opening scene felt a lot like the original trailer of the Incredibles, the camera panning around the superhero memorabilia and then allowing the audience to see what kind of person the main character is going to be just from the opening shot of the film. I want to have a young Peter positioned on the floor reading a comic book, while the camera continuously pans around to see superhero memorabilia sprawled over the walls and on the side tables of his room, empathising his character and hopefully outlining the overall plot of the film and to intrigue the audience from the beginning.
When scrolling through and editing my blog, I figured that this is probably the most easy thing to do in my own film, because of the fact that it is only a few shots of superhero memorabilia and just random bits around a room, so its not going to be hard to achieve. I don't even really need actors in this scene, I just thought that it would make sense to have a younger Peter in the scene.
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Directors:
Edgar wright:Edgar Howard Wright is an English director, screenwriter and producer. He began making independent short films before making his first feature film A Fistful of Fingers. Wright created and directed the comedy series Asylum in 1996, written with David Walliams.FILMS: he has created many films during his career such as, Baby driver, Hot fuzz, The world's end, Antman and many more. These films have inspired me through the directors use of Chekhov's gun and the use of music and character development to make a convincing narrative.
CHEKHOV'S GUN: is a concept that describes how every element of a story should contribute to the whole film's narrative. An example of this in wrights films are in Shaun of the dead (2004). A rifle is hung on the wall early on in the film, the characters talking about the gun asking if it works, only for it to be used later on in the production as a weapon to kill the antagonists.
Edgar Wright is honestly one of my BIGGEST inspiration when it comes to film, alongside many others, watching the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost film with my family, I just grew to love his techniques and methods when creating comedies and I jut love how imaginative he is with his camera shot and angles, for example, in each of his films, props or objects and people enter the frame in funny ways, which I really love.
FILMS: he is a director, writer and producer for only two short films, that use a series of different editing techniques and gripping character personalities to keep the viewers interested. The two short films he has produced are, THE PIT (2012) and THE LESS OF YOU (2015). SLOW MOTION AND LIGHTING: this short film uses a series of slow motion shots that I may incorporate in my own short film. One shot I may use in my own production is the love interest confrontation scene. The camera focuses on the back of one characters head so we don't see what happens between the two, and pans around in slow motion throughout the scene to see the flash of light from the camera, which will be the sound effect in my case, and then speed up again.
The lighting is very dim in most scenes of this film, but the scenes that are light capture the comedic scenes that the film holds that I will use in my own short film. In the very few short films he has created, he was able to perfectly convey the hedonistic culture that we live in today and how everyone is constantly in an attempt to keep up with one another.
John Hughes:
Hughes was an American film maker and director who began as an author of humorous essays and stories for National Lampoon and went on to write some of the most successful live-action and comedy films of the 80's and 90's. Some films he created were National Lampoon, Ferris Buelers day off, Home Alone, Weird science and many more of which inspired me when creating my own short film. 
BACKLIGHTING AND ESCAPISM: these are elements used heavily within Spielberg's productions in order to emphasise his characters and make the film experience feel more authentic and real. For example, these two elements are used mainly in E.T. Back lighting is used in the majority of the scenes to make it feel more realistic and to give it more of a nostalgic feel. E.T also uses escapism as the overall themes and plot of the film uses aliens and childhood nostalgia and the american dream through sunsets and childhood hopes and dreams.
Quentin Tarantino:
Quentin Tarantino is an american film maker, actor, film programmer, and cinema owner his films are characterised by non linear story line, satirical subject matter, anaesthetisation of violence, extended scenes of dialogue, ensemble casts, references to popular culture and a wide variety of other films, soundtracks primarily containing songs and score pieces from the 60's and 80's, and features of neo-noir film. Neo-noir is a revival of the genre of film noir, it was popularised in 1955 by french critics. it was applied to crime movies of the 40's and 50's, mostly produced in the united states, which adopted a 20's and 30's art decor visual environment. the English translation is a dark movie, indicating something sinister and shadowy, but also expressing a cinematographic style. the film noir genre included stylish Hollywood crime dramas, often with a twisted dark wit. Neo-noir has a similar style but with updated themes. content, style, visual elements and media. Neo-noir film directors refer to 'classic noir' in the use of tilted camera angles, interplay of light and shadows, unbalanced framing; blurring of the lines between good and bad and right and wrong, and thematic motifs including revenge, paranoia, and alienation.
NEO-NOIR: having grown up watching Tarantino's bad ass and violent matured films, his stylistic nature of film making has always heavily inspired me. the idea of neo noir makes a film darker, still having some stylistic and good-hearted humour, in some cases, incredibly dark and awful humour, making a film look like an old cop movie, almost makes the film look more awesome. The thing that i used from the neo-noir ages, is the use of blue and black lighting and techniques. i used this in a scene where my character is upset and angry, highlighting the characters nature and current state of mind, i then used yellow lighting and editing to make my film have a more sepia and retro vibe to it.
Quentin Tarantino is an american film maker, actor, film programmer, and cinema owner his films are characterised by non linear story line, satirical subject matter, anaesthetisation of violence, extended scenes of dialogue, ensemble casts, references to popular culture and a wide variety of other films, soundtracks primarily containing songs and score pieces from the 60's and 80's, and features of neo-noir film. Neo-noir is a revival of the genre of film noir, it was popularised in 1955 by french critics. it was applied to crime movies of the 40's and 50's, mostly produced in the united states, which adopted a 20's and 30's art decor visual environment. the English translation is a dark movie, indicating something sinister and shadowy, but also expressing a cinematographic style. the film noir genre included stylish Hollywood crime dramas, often with a twisted dark wit. Neo-noir has a similar style but with updated themes. content, style, visual elements and media. Neo-noir film directors refer to 'classic noir' in the use of tilted camera angles, interplay of light and shadows, unbalanced framing; blurring of the lines between good and bad and right and wrong, and thematic motifs including revenge, paranoia, and alienation.NEO-NOIR: having grown up watching Tarantino's bad ass and violent matured films, his stylistic nature of film making has always heavily inspired me. the idea of neo noir makes a film darker, still having some stylistic and good-hearted humour, in some cases, incredibly dark and awful humour, making a film look like an old cop movie, almost makes the film look more awesome. The thing that i used from the neo-noir ages, is the use of blue and black lighting and techniques. i used this in a scene where my character is upset and angry, highlighting the characters nature and current state of mind, i then used yellow lighting and editing to make my film have a more sepia and retro vibe to it.
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Other media (TV shows, books, video games etc.):
The Walking Dead:
There is one scene here that I love particularly, the scene where the group from the 'Kingdom' go and scout to find a new bulb for their film projector. The 'king' Ezekiel switches on a tape recorder, a song playing that the group gently bob their heads to, showing that amidst all of the destruction and the current zombie apocalypse that has broken out, there is still some humanity and pleasure left in the world. I know it sounds super weird but how cool would it be to have a zombie apocalypse? Sorry... just a weird Daisy thought. I researched into this scene as I wanted to see how to use different musical scores and techniques to convey different emotions and feelings to what is actually happening in the backgrounds of the scene (contrast). The section where Jerry looks over at Carol like they are in a theatre production saying 'come on sisters' to add some humanity and comedy to the scene, and we also get a pretty distraught and 'what are we actually achieving' look from Carol.
This is pretty much irrelevant to my own film but there you go its still here, I only enjoyed the use of music in a weird and dangerous situation like the zombie apocalypse and the sad and "you're an idiot" look from one of the characters. In most cases, music is one of the main players in shaping a character, and also shows the relationships shared between the characters through lyrics or just simply a few of the characters bobbing their heads to the beat.
Santa Clarita diet:
Just recently, a friend recommended this show to me, and I am OBSESSED with it, yeah its pretty cheesy and all but its just such a feel good show! Even though one of the main protagonist eats people because she is dead, but its just such a nice story about the couple, one undead and one human, trying to do the best for their family. The one scene that I loved from season 3 was the scene where Joel is creating a hammer knife to help his wife when finding food and he touches the end of the knife only to accidently cut his finger and whinge. In my montage scene, I wanted something like this to happen, obviously not with weapons, but when he is testing out his new powers instead and thinks he is super cool, only to look like a bit like a fool. This isn't the actual scene but its a trailer as none of the scenes are actually on YouTube yet!
Santa Clarita diet:
Just recently, a friend recommended this show to me, and I am OBSESSED with it, yeah its pretty cheesy and all but its just such a feel good show! Even though one of the main protagonist eats people because she is dead, but its just such a nice story about the couple, one undead and one human, trying to do the best for their family. The one scene that I loved from season 3 was the scene where Joel is creating a hammer knife to help his wife when finding food and he touches the end of the knife only to accidently cut his finger and whinge. In my montage scene, I wanted something like this to happen, obviously not with weapons, but when he is testing out his new powers instead and thinks he is super cool, only to look like a bit like a fool. This isn't the actual scene but its a trailer as none of the scenes are actually on YouTube yet!
Red Dead Redemption 2:
Right, to begin with I'm not going to lie, I cried a lot at the ending of the game, not being a wuss, just who I am. Okay, now that's been clarified, I was really inspired by this scene due to the immense beauty and sadness that was shown. Obliviously my main character isn't going to die in my film, but I was going to have a scene where he wanted to end his life but didn't, this is where I wanted to use the whole sunset and beauty amidst the sadness kind of thing that this scene used. Another thing that really inspired me here was the use of music to contrast and end the scene and to show what the character was like throughout the entirety of the game, a kind-hearted, loyal outlaw with high morale and a kindness that outshine anyone else in the production, Rockstar games really did well with this protagonist, similar to how I wanted my protagonist to be!
Extension to Baby Driver: scene one breakdown:
Baby Driver, as seen in the majority of my blog, contains so many elements that I wanted to use in my own film, the soundtrack, the camera shots, just everything. This scene is when Baby speeds around the city as a getaway driver from the cops, making sure his favourite music is there to accompany this getaway. The film has a very clear focus on music and how it affects Baby's everyday life because of his tetanus, and it is very similar to the what I wanted Peter to be like in my on film, a music fuelled young man looking for redemption in a world where superheroes exist and he feels a little bit left out. But yes, this video was incredibly useful as it broke down the micro elements like sounds and cinematography into a more condensed format to help me to understand what went into the scene to make it what it is.
When reflecting back on this, I was still heavily inspired by this film in many ways throughout the whole blog, it just really captures what I wanted for my film, music and camera shots. Alongside Edgar Wrights other films like Shaun Of The Dead and The Worlds End, they all use the kind of themes and camera shots that makes British films so great, the stupid humour and the dumb ways objects appear on the screen and in the shot, for example the cake that enters the screen in Hot Fuzz when they are in the police station.
Practice camera shots:
The first shot that I decided to test was the over the shoulder shot. This shot was relatively easy to capture as the camera just had to be placed on the subjects shoulder to look as if it were looking over their shoulder. this shot is effective as it allows you to have a POV shot of what the protagonist is seeing in front of them, whilst actually physically seeing what is in front of them in the shot. I managed to convince my dad to let me take photos of him as he was the only one willing to have photos taken of him, my friends hate photos so here we have a selection of my dad for the camera shots!
This shot is a medium close up and it shows the subjects shoulders upwards. I don't particularly like this shot as it doesn't really allow anything to be shown as there may be a lack of body language and emotion shown though this. In many films, this shot is used when characters are talking to each other, and is one of those shots that just flickers back and forth between the two characters when they are talking and is a bit of a lazy shot just to fill in a part of the narrative. There is room for a lack of creativity in this shot as well due to the fact that not much can really be shown in this shot other than facial expressions.
This shot is an extreme close up and is used when emphasis is needed on a particular part of a characters body or to focus on something small away from the characters. This shot can be used in a manner of different ways as it shows emotion and facial expression in many different ways. I like this shot as no mater where the camera is focusing, it will always be able to show the most amount of emotion and expression. from a character, whether its the tears in their eyes or the anger in their expression, it will always be able to convey it in the most extreme forms.
This shot is a medium shot and shows the subjects torso upwards. This shot is able to convey both body language and facial expression all in one. This is an effective shot as it allows the most important areas of the character to be exposed to the camera. I will most probably use this shot in the restaurant scene of my film, where Peter and Mitch sit and talk about Peter's new powers and how Mitch has been dealing with them for the majority of his life. This will be used in my film as they are both sitting at a table and will be show using these types of shots. this will also be accompanied by a Dutch angle.
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Music and soundtrack:
"To me, movies and music go hand in hand. When I'm writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the music I'm going to play for the opening sequence."- Quentin Tarantino.
In my film I wanted to incorporate old sounding music to emphasise my main protagonists and their personalities. I have grown up listening to the wonderful sounds of the 80's and also with the indie tunes from today, so finding music to inspire me was no difficulty. Whenever I was on a trip in the car or simply listening to the radio while out, I always take notes of music that I enjoy, because you never know when you are going to need it again! Spotify was also a great deal of help to me as they make daily playlists that are specially created to inspire your own music taste! My music taste is pretty terrible, but most of the music that I stumbled across was found by the dynamic duo of me and my friend Zac and are sounds that we thought fit the theme of the film 'Baby Driver' and the characters personalities!
This is another piece of music that lasts for about 10 hours but is completely uncopyrighted! Its only retro wave synth beats but at the 2 hour and 36 minute mark, is a piece of music that i think would really go with my film. Im a bit sad that you cant find any uncopyrighted 80's music with lyrics, but oh well, im going to have to deal with it! I may have to tweak my film around a bit and have a rethink of my whole motive but it should be alright, its only the music i'm going to change! I think I will email some of the producers to see if i can use just snippets of their music.
I recently come across a sound cloud producer called Foret De Vin, and they create retro beats that are inspired by the 80's, I haven't found out if they are uncopyrighted yet though so we'll have to wait and see. One of my favourite songs of their's is "hold the night" and I thought that it would sound really good in my film, I presume that because they are sound cloud producers, that it should be royalty free? Okay, so, I just emailed them at exactly 11:49 on the 8th of may 2019, so now we just wait and see, I'm literally crossing my fingers right now.
Foret de vin emailed me back and said, "Kool to hear you're doing a movie! yeah, you know - all our music is copyrighted. Was there a certain song you wanted in your film? All the best" so I just have to wait again for a reply just to see if I can use at least one of their songs in my film, they're such nice people its unbelievable! If they left me use one of their songs I will obviously credit them and all they have done to help with my film! But I said that I was going to use "hold the night" which is unfortunately one of their most famous and loved songs, so it very slim chances that I may be able to use it in my film, but here's to hoping! Update, Foret De Vin did actually get back to me and said that their music was all copyrighted but I was free to use at least one of their songs! I'm still waiting for the email to confirm, but I'm not fussing, the fact that they even took the time to reply if good enough for me!
This playlist was a bunch of royalty free NewRetroWave music that fits my genre and theme of 80's music, but in the modern day. The whole playlist is linked here and I will have to go through and (paratheatrical) pick a few of the songs to be in my own short film, I really enjoy the old 80's vibe that comes from these songs, but they are still able to reflect the modern day, which was what I wanted to achieve in my own film. The songs here really remind me of Edgar Wrights films and works as he is able to convey emotions and actions in some scenes through the use of soundtrack and music. I found a website https://www.audioblocks.com/royalty-free-audio/80s that contained an array of different 80's tracks that I wanted to use in my own film but soon realized that every single track had an annoying 'premium beat.com' voice in the background, so I cant really use it anyway unless i spend my hard earned money which I'm poor so never mind.
This song is called, "Sister, Sister" and was produced by Palmspringsteen. The lyrics and the song in genera; reflect a young love story in the deserts of America, and the retro style of the olden days. I'm assuming this anyway, as there was no real meaning to the song. I just really loved the overall look of the music video and the colours/lighting used to emphasise certain cinematography. As the video progresses, the face paint worn by the subject increases, until his face is fully covered, suggesting the videos overall meaning, which is quite literally, UNKNOWN. I thought this song fit nicely in with montage party scene, where Peter goes to kiss the girl of his dreams only to be rejected by her and disappointed.
Short Film foundations:
OLD LOG LINE:OLD SYNOPSIS:
Strange things are occurring in the lives of two friends, when a confrontation with the past goes badly wrong, best friends male protagonist and female protagonist are forced out of their ‘normal’ routinely lives to protect each other from the obscurity of society. With a few friends, a love interest, a retired superhero, and a gang on their heels, the two must fight, argue, and montage their way through a hampering problem. The sound effect.
OLD TREATMENT:
OLD TREATMENT:
Scene 1: (Establishing this platonic relationship, but maybe a secret or something that isn't quite right):
Its early in the evening, Bryan is walking down the street with his best friend Amelia on the way to a party, they share ear buds and begin to dance as Bryan turns the music up. An old 80’s track plays as they mosey along the street, reminiscing the past and miming the words. The two had grown up together, laughed together and danced together, what would change it now? Amelia removes one earbud and places it in Bryan's other ear, disappearing into a nearby shop. Bryan continues to move around to the beat and mimics the words as he moves, he smiles goofily as his friend pokes her head around the door before she disappears again.
The music is quietened as Bryan is stopped in his tracks by the screams of an old woman, hollering loudly to try and get someone's attention, he sees a few boys creep down an alleyway, and he starts to skulk towards them clenching his fists, desperate to try and be a hero. As he peers own the alley, the boys can be seen rummaging through the bag, Bryan quietly telling the woman to hush as the boys turn their head at the pair, Bryan moving so his back is positioned against the wall. The music stops as the boy appears behind him, grabbing hold of Bryan as he kicks about and throws his own punches, all whilst imagining he was a superhero. A scuffle is heard from the confrontation, and a few weird sounding noises, but not loud enough for his friend to notice. She pokes her head around the door again, a bag of chips in her hand, scoffing them. She tilts her head in confusion, expecting Bryan to be standing there waiting for her, shrugging her shoulders, she leans against the brick wall of the shop continuing to eat the chips she had bought for the two of them. She stops when she hears a faint noise from the alleyway and an old woman telling her to help, she notices Bryan's phone and earbuds on the ground, the 80’s track still playing. She places the chips on the ground, and peeks around the alley opening, she is spooked suddenly by her best friend running towards her like a deer being chased by a telling her to run also with flailing arms. Bryan throws the bag at the old woman with a smile and a thank you, grabbing hold of his friends arm and pulling her away from the alley, running at full pelt down the street, a group of boys chasing after them, a freeze frame following.
Scene 2: Origin recap, who he is, how it is a problem how he battles his identity at home and about (Call to adventure / pushing it away):
Bryan and Amelia sit solemnly in a pure white doctors office, Bryan holds a bag of ice to his bruised eye, and touches his split lip every once in a while, Amelia sits quietly reading a comic book, glancing over at her friend between reading words. She makes a Sarcee comment about the way he touches his lip and how he should have taken it out to dinner first, a short silence ensuing with Bryan looking directly at nothing. The nothingness killed Bryan, he looked to the left, shifting slightly in his seat to once again face nothing but a house plant. He begins to talk at nothing, he explains who he is, what he does and what he wants to be, in the background we can see Amelia looking confused at the area of empty space that Bryan is talking to in the background.
Its early in the evening, Bryan is walking down the street with his best friend Amelia on the way to a party, they share ear buds and begin to dance as Bryan turns the music up. An old 80’s track plays as they mosey along the street, reminiscing the past and miming the words. The two had grown up together, laughed together and danced together, what would change it now? Amelia removes one earbud and places it in Bryan's other ear, disappearing into a nearby shop. Bryan continues to move around to the beat and mimics the words as he moves, he smiles goofily as his friend pokes her head around the door before she disappears again.
The music is quietened as Bryan is stopped in his tracks by the screams of an old woman, hollering loudly to try and get someone's attention, he sees a few boys creep down an alleyway, and he starts to skulk towards them clenching his fists, desperate to try and be a hero. As he peers own the alley, the boys can be seen rummaging through the bag, Bryan quietly telling the woman to hush as the boys turn their head at the pair, Bryan moving so his back is positioned against the wall. The music stops as the boy appears behind him, grabbing hold of Bryan as he kicks about and throws his own punches, all whilst imagining he was a superhero. A scuffle is heard from the confrontation, and a few weird sounding noises, but not loud enough for his friend to notice. She pokes her head around the door again, a bag of chips in her hand, scoffing them. She tilts her head in confusion, expecting Bryan to be standing there waiting for her, shrugging her shoulders, she leans against the brick wall of the shop continuing to eat the chips she had bought for the two of them. She stops when she hears a faint noise from the alleyway and an old woman telling her to help, she notices Bryan's phone and earbuds on the ground, the 80’s track still playing. She places the chips on the ground, and peeks around the alley opening, she is spooked suddenly by her best friend running towards her like a deer being chased by a telling her to run also with flailing arms. Bryan throws the bag at the old woman with a smile and a thank you, grabbing hold of his friends arm and pulling her away from the alley, running at full pelt down the street, a group of boys chasing after them, a freeze frame following.
Scene 2: Origin recap, who he is, how it is a problem how he battles his identity at home and about (Call to adventure / pushing it away):
Bryan and Amelia sit solemnly in a pure white doctors office, Bryan holds a bag of ice to his bruised eye, and touches his split lip every once in a while, Amelia sits quietly reading a comic book, glancing over at her friend between reading words. She makes a Sarcee comment about the way he touches his lip and how he should have taken it out to dinner first, a short silence ensuing with Bryan looking directly at nothing. The nothingness killed Bryan, he looked to the left, shifting slightly in his seat to once again face nothing but a house plant. He begins to talk at nothing, he explains who he is, what he does and what he wants to be, in the background we can see Amelia looking confused at the area of empty space that Bryan is talking to in the background.
He talks loudly at the non existent object, still earning weird glances from Amelia who was shaking her head in the background. He touches his lip once more, and says that he will take that out to dinner soon, Amelia moving her head slightly with pursed lips. He shifts in his seat and moves closer to the non existent object. He whispers that this is how it happened, and Amelia asks about what happened, Bryan shaking his head with his palm on his head.
Scene 3: Meet up with friend. Try to come up with a plan. Maybe it's a superhero that knows that they're doing. (Trying to solve the problem through going on an adventure, meeting with the mentor) go to a restaurant fast food to meet someone that was arranged by Amelia to help Bryan get through it all, it ends u being a retired 'superhero' wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, a beard and slightly obese after his retirement, and speaks to Bryan about what he can do, not being much help however:
Bryan sits in a small fast food restaurant, quietly eating his food to himself, not waiting for anyone. He takes small sips of his drink every once in a while and stares out of the window, as if he was reenacting a sad scene in a movie, like staring out of the window of a car as it rains and a song by Adele plays in the background, like that.
Scene 4:
~Bryan shows up to the party without his earphones, as an attempt to be himself in front of the girl and impress her, hoping that the sound of the music blaring in the background would prevent any sound effects from happening~
Bryan and Amelia stand to the side of the house of the party holder, the rest of their group of friends are sitting down over a fire, cheap plastic chairs are used as the luxury seating and they are all enjoying themselves, apart from the two best friends who are standing apart from the party. Bryan quietly whispers to Amelia about what he is going to do about confronting the girl that he loves so dearly, and whether his terminal sound effect 'powers' will effect his chances of success. Amelia, being the greatest friend anyone could ask for, mocks Bryan and tells him he will always be perfect in her eyes, earning sarcastic laughs from Bryan who is seemingly unimpressed but mimics the mocking coming from her. Music blares in the background of their conversation, causing Amelia to move her shoulders a bit to the beat, Bryan doing the same.
There is a moment of silence before Bryan's phone makes a loud noise, making them both jump slightly. Bryan looks down intriguingly at the phone screen, eyes widening as he realises who it is from. Its a message from Hannah, the girl he is madly in love with. Amelia reads the message in Hannah's voice, making her sound like a demon. 'when you coming to sit down with me?' with a heart. Amelia cringes at this by making a gagging sound, Bryan ignoring her and making eye contact with Hannah who is smiling lovingly at him. The group of friends usher the pair to sit down.
Bryan exchanges a worried glance at Amelia who just smiles and pushes him towards Hannah. They both sit down and begin to talk, laugh, and sip at their drinks. The attention begins to be focused on Bryan, the group of friends peering over every once in a while to see if any progress had been made. As Bryan takes gulps of his drink, a sound effect being concealed slightly by his pursed lips to prevent anyone from hearing, he notices a pair of eyes glancing over at him, he looks up to lock his own eyes with Hannah's. They look like every typical teen romance to the group. He glances back with a half cocked smile and then looks down again, out of shyness and pure embarrassment as Amelia can be heard snorting laughter slightly in the distance.
The friends observe as Hannah and Bryan stand up from their seats and move closer to one another, staring lovingly into each others eyes and leaning in for a kiss, the friends eyes widening suddenly at the display of affection in front of them. They can barely see the kiss and only see the back of Hannah's head as she jolts it back in disgust. Bryan had accidentally let out one of the sound effects as he leaned in for the kiss, earning a slap from Hannah who thought he was being a fool. Bryan swears under his breath and pinches the bridge of his nose, Amelia's squinting eyes staring at Hannah. Hannah begins to push and mock Bryan, jabbing her fingers into his chest with every word. She moves with his every movement, getting in his face, swearing at him, causing Amelia and the rest of the group to stand up and intervene.
~Bryan shows up to the party without his earphones, as an attempt to be himself in front of the girl and impress her, hoping that the sound of the music blaring in the background would prevent any sound effects from happening~
Bryan and Amelia stand to the side of the house of the party holder, the rest of their group of friends are sitting down over a fire, cheap plastic chairs are used as the luxury seating and they are all enjoying themselves, apart from the two best friends who are standing apart from the party. Bryan quietly whispers to Amelia about what he is going to do about confronting the girl that he loves so dearly, and whether his terminal sound effect 'powers' will effect his chances of success. Amelia, being the greatest friend anyone could ask for, mocks Bryan and tells him he will always be perfect in her eyes, earning sarcastic laughs from Bryan who is seemingly unimpressed but mimics the mocking coming from her. Music blares in the background of their conversation, causing Amelia to move her shoulders a bit to the beat, Bryan doing the same.
There is a moment of silence before Bryan's phone makes a loud noise, making them both jump slightly. Bryan looks down intriguingly at the phone screen, eyes widening as he realises who it is from. Its a message from Hannah, the girl he is madly in love with. Amelia reads the message in Hannah's voice, making her sound like a demon. 'when you coming to sit down with me?' with a heart. Amelia cringes at this by making a gagging sound, Bryan ignoring her and making eye contact with Hannah who is smiling lovingly at him. The group of friends usher the pair to sit down.
Bryan exchanges a worried glance at Amelia who just smiles and pushes him towards Hannah. They both sit down and begin to talk, laugh, and sip at their drinks. The attention begins to be focused on Bryan, the group of friends peering over every once in a while to see if any progress had been made. As Bryan takes gulps of his drink, a sound effect being concealed slightly by his pursed lips to prevent anyone from hearing, he notices a pair of eyes glancing over at him, he looks up to lock his own eyes with Hannah's. They look like every typical teen romance to the group. He glances back with a half cocked smile and then looks down again, out of shyness and pure embarrassment as Amelia can be heard snorting laughter slightly in the distance.
The friends observe as Hannah and Bryan stand up from their seats and move closer to one another, staring lovingly into each others eyes and leaning in for a kiss, the friends eyes widening suddenly at the display of affection in front of them. They can barely see the kiss and only see the back of Hannah's head as she jolts it back in disgust. Bryan had accidentally let out one of the sound effects as he leaned in for the kiss, earning a slap from Hannah who thought he was being a fool. Bryan swears under his breath and pinches the bridge of his nose, Amelia's squinting eyes staring at Hannah. Hannah begins to push and mock Bryan, jabbing her fingers into his chest with every word. She moves with his every movement, getting in his face, swearing at him, causing Amelia and the rest of the group to stand up and intervene.
Amelia is the first to stand up, grabbing Hannah by the collar, shaking her slightly, fighting, shouting and going for each other, hands flailing everywhere. Bryan walks away from the scuffle, still holding his nose in embarrassment disappearing from the party in an instant, leaving Amelia and Hannah to argue.
Next scene: Point of no return (Has to face up to his problems. Be comfortable with himself and his powers):
NEW LOG LINE:
NEW SYNOPSIS:
Strange things are occurring in the life of young Peter, a young, music fuelled new superhero in need of help. When a confrontation with the past goes badly wrong, peter is forced out of his 'normal' routinely life to protect himself from the obscurity of society. With a retired superhero, a love interest, and a gang on his heels, he must fight, argue, and montage his way through a hampering problem. The sound effect.
NEW TREATMENT:
A young boy lays on his stomach reading a comic book, the room smothered in ornaments and superhero memorabilia, and kicking his legs about in the air. He looks memorised by the sound effects, fight scenes and personalities of the superheros in front of him, smiling widely with every word read. On the boys ceiling, he has a poster that reads, 'anyone can be a superhero', he glances up at this and then stuffs his head back into the book.
The young boy skips his way through a street, comic book still in hand, on his way to school. He flips the pages with each skip, still memorised by the colours and action that occurs. He desperately wants to be a superhero, with each passing day. He adjusts his backpack that rested comfortably on his shoulder and skips some more, showing his excitement to go to school and show all of his friends his new comic. He is jolted where he stands by the screams of an old lady, just across the street from him. He is frightened by the sudden switch from a calm morning, to a scary one. He positions himself behind a lamp post, watching the events on the other side of the street unfold, the old lady screams for help as a group of men steal her bag, and run for the hills away from the crowds.
The young boy moves backwards slightly with every event, scared that the men will come and get him. Plucking up every last ounce of courage that he has inside of him, he steps out from the lamp post and puts his hands on his hips and shouts at the men, bearing in mind he is only young and the men are a lot older than him. They look over at him with furrowed brows, pointing and waving their fingers at him and tell him to get lost before they change their minds and do something to him. As the group of men move closer to him, another man appears in front of them. The young boy watches in awe and darts his eyes around at the scene. The man was bearded and was very tall, the young boy looked on and admired the man as he got in the other mans faces, taking everything from them to protect the younger boy. He looks down at his comic book, and then back up at the man as he throws a punch at the other men, a fight breaks out, and the younger boys eyes dart back and forth between the fight and the fight happening in his comic book, seeing his comic book coming to life and getting excited. The fight continues to happen, the bearded man winning with flying colours, the boy copying the mans moves from the protection of the lamp post as he throws the punches.
Once the man had done his part and scared the men off, he walks politely over to the old lady, who was incredibly shaken by the scene and gives her bag back. With a smile, he walks away, glancing over at the younger boy and then back at his feet as he leaves the scene, the younger boy watching on in awe, his mouth open wide.
An older version of the young boy walks into a doctors office waiting room, he sits on one of the chairs and glances over at the girls sitting next to him for a while before his eyes dart back to looking forwards. He explains who he is and brags about how adorable he was when he was younger. He laughs a little before his eyes dart back to looking forwards. He brags some more about what he is like in his young adult age, tall, handsome and amazing are a few of his words, he earns some strange and confused glances from the girls of his age sitting a few seats away from him.
The older boy then speaks about his problem and what the powers are doing to him, he asks the audience to sit back and enjoy the show as he will tell his life story and how he deals with his powers. He makes a rainbow motion with his hands and earns another confused look from one of the girls sitting next to him. One of the girls begin to mock him and his story, he gives her a shocked look and goes off on one about how great he is.
Its early in the evening, protagonist is walking down the street on the way to a shop, he places in his ear buds and begins to dance as he turns the music up. An old 80's track plays as he moseys along the street, reminiscing the past and miming the words. He continues to move around to the beat and mimics the words as he moves.
The music is quietened as protagonist is stopped in his tracks by the screams of an old woman, hollering loudly to try and get someone's attention, he sees a few boys skulk away down an alley, emptying the contents of the bag onto the floor, holding up a handful of cash to the light, laughing hysterically. He clenches his fists, and desperately try's to be a hero, shushing the old lady and making his way over to the boys, puffing his chest out and confronting them. Protagonist quietly telling the woman to hush as the boys turn their head at the pair, protagonist moving so his back is positioned against the wall. The music stops as the boy appears behind him, grabbing hold of protagonist as he kicks about and throws his own punches, all whilst imagining he was a superhero. A scuffle is heard from the confrontation, and a few weird sounding noises, spooking the old lady. Protagonist was on the floor now, being held up by his collar by one of the boys. A strange character in all black moves quickly past the alley, assessing what he was going to do to the boys in order to save protagonist. He steps into the light and makes his voice known, the boy who had a firm hand on protagonist lets go of him, he hits the floor with a force, retrieving the old ladies stolen money. The boy looks at Mitch and runs away, he knows who he is and fears him after what he did to is father. Mitch watches the boy leave and then moves towards protagonist, he drapes him over his shoulder and carries him out of the alleyway, cursing to the gods about how stupid protagonist was for trying to be a hero. Mitch and protagonist sit in a small run down restaurant, Mitch scoffing on his food, protagonist sitting with a tissue up his nose staring blankly at Mitch. Mitch brags about how good his burger is and how he is skipping his diet in order to die happy. Mitch steals chips from protagonists plate, he stares at Mitch with a disgusted and confused expression, still holding on to his bleeding nose. A waiter appears at their table and she places a piece of paper next to Mitch. He looks down at this and asks protagonist if he has any money to pay for his meal, Protagonist quietly shaking his head. Protagonist looks as if he has had enough and puts his hands down on the table, causing a sound effect to erupt from his palms, this makes Mitch jump slightly, he crosses his arms with furrowed brows. Protagonist also looks at his arms, retracting them backwards under the table. Protagonist asks Mitch to focus and he angrily obliges. Protagonist then asks Mitch whether he has any tips on being a superhero, Mitch tries to tell him what he thought was useful, but simply disappointed and confused protagonist even more. He attempts to slide away from the restaurant and get away from this crazy dude by telling him that he needed to feed his cat. He slips away without trouble, leaving Mitch to eat the left over food. Protagonist sits in the doctors waiting room still, his legs spread apart like every man does, the two girls still sit a few seats away from him. Protagonist looks at the audience and explains how ironic it is that Mitch's face was on the girls magazine. The girl looks over at protagonist and shakes her head, her partner doing the same. Protagonist hypes himself up by bragging about how amazing he is and then proceeded to try and tell the audience a secret. He leans around a houseplant that was positioned next to him in the waiting room and tells them how useless he is at everything because of his powers. The girls peek around protagonists shoulder and nod at his words, earning a funny look from protagonist who wasn't very happy that they agreed with him, the girls retreat back to reading their magazines. The girl starts to insult him, but is cut off by the receptionist who calls him up for his appointment. He leans on the desk and smoulders, his arm slipping off slightly, he asks the receptionist whether she wants to go out for coffee sometimes, she awkwardly says no, protagonist feeling sad at how bad he is with women. The girls snicker and mock him once again as he makes his way to the doctors room.
Protagonist looks into a large mirror on the wall, brushing his teeth solemnly until each brush makes a sound effect, he grins at this and brushes even faster to make himself happier. He moves on to the kitchen, slipping on his pyjama pants, placing some bread in the toaster for his breakfast, he makes sure this is also acted out as a heroic feat, throwing it up in the air, and the bread landing perfectly in the toaster. Once the toast is done he begins to butter his toast, however, he manages to do this at supersonic speed, surprising himself and finding out that he has a new power to add on to his boring sound effects.
In the form of a quick montage, protagonist eats his toast while sitting in the living room, he quickly stands up and moves on to his bedroom, toast still in his mouth. He slips sweatbands onto his wrists in a very quick motion, he pulls on his coat at the same speed, but then he slows down drastically when he tries to tie his shoelaces. He grabs his laptop and swings himself around on his chair, he sits and taps his fingers on the laptop, scrolling through photos of different superheroes that appears on the screen, constantly saying spandex. He stands up and throws his laptop on the chair he was just positioned on and slides towards the door, he falls over his shoelace with a number of swear words and then leaves the house.
Protagonist arrives at another house, string lights are in the treeline, friends sit around a fire, laughter erupting from everyone. Protagonist and a girl stand in in the middle of all this, they lean in and kiss each other, a sound effect escapes from protagonist, the girl slaps him across the cheek, his head jolts to the side and he touches his injured cheek softly.
Protagonist sits in the doctors office chair and looks into the audience as the doctor fumbles around in the background. He groans about how the love of his life slapped him across the face, his arms flailing about in the air angrily. The doctor taps him on the shoulder, snapping him back to reality. The doctor explains how he has no idea what is happening to protagonist, causing protagonist to lean over in his chair and mock the doctor. He just rolls his eyes and wonders what to do with himself.
Protagonist stands on a high up, secluded area, the sunset beaming in front of him, the perfect scene. He breaths heavily and appears panicked, for a short while he is holding something to his head, seemingly a weapon. He is in a constant state of panic here, he pulls the trigger and only a click can be heard. He glances side ward and breaths shallowly, only a bang flag appears out of it, causing protagonist to swear to the heavens.
The doctor fumbles around the room behind protagonist as he says his final words of the film. The doctor hands protagonist a piece of paper and he places his ice bag on the floor, explaining how this is where his story ends, he gives his final inspirational superhero speech and I repeated in unison by the doctor, who leans down and reveals himself as Mitch, the older, retired superhero he had encountered as his mentor before. It ends with the pair laughing.
(Use the numbered captions for the shots and stage directions, pictures follow the numbers from left to right, row by row!)
1. Wide shot of Peter laying on the floor reading a comic book.
2. Pan around to Peters front as he reads, a continuous panning shot.
3. Pan up to Peters ceiling, showing a poster with inspiring words.
4. Cut away to a tracking shot, of Peter walking, hears screams.
5. Hides behind a lamp post, this is a wide shot.
6. Close up of Mitch fighting the muggers, cutting back and forth between Mitch and Peter.
7. Wide shot of Mitch and the bad guys on the floor, returns the money with Peter watching in awe.
8. Cuts back and forth between Mitch and Peter s he leaves the scene, Peter looking on with wide eyes.
1. Starts with a close up of Peters phone screen as he clicks his music button.
A young boy lays on his stomach reading a comic book, the room smothered in ornaments and superhero memorabilia, and kicking his legs about in the air. He looks memorised by the sound effects, fight scenes and personalities of the superheros in front of him, smiling widely with every word read. On the boys ceiling, he has a poster that reads, 'anyone can be a superhero', he glances up at this and then stuffs his head back into the book.
The young boy skips his way through a street, comic book still in hand, on his way to school. He flips the pages with each skip, still memorised by the colours and action that occurs. He desperately wants to be a superhero, with each passing day. He adjusts his backpack that rested comfortably on his shoulder and skips some more, showing his excitement to go to school and show all of his friends his new comic. He is jolted where he stands by the screams of an old lady, just across the street from him. He is frightened by the sudden switch from a calm morning, to a scary one. He positions himself behind a lamp post, watching the events on the other side of the street unfold, the old lady screams for help as a group of men steal her bag, and run for the hills away from the crowds.
The young boy moves backwards slightly with every event, scared that the men will come and get him. Plucking up every last ounce of courage that he has inside of him, he steps out from the lamp post and puts his hands on his hips and shouts at the men, bearing in mind he is only young and the men are a lot older than him. They look over at him with furrowed brows, pointing and waving their fingers at him and tell him to get lost before they change their minds and do something to him. As the group of men move closer to him, another man appears in front of them. The young boy watches in awe and darts his eyes around at the scene. The man was bearded and was very tall, the young boy looked on and admired the man as he got in the other mans faces, taking everything from them to protect the younger boy. He looks down at his comic book, and then back up at the man as he throws a punch at the other men, a fight breaks out, and the younger boys eyes dart back and forth between the fight and the fight happening in his comic book, seeing his comic book coming to life and getting excited. The fight continues to happen, the bearded man winning with flying colours, the boy copying the mans moves from the protection of the lamp post as he throws the punches.
Once the man had done his part and scared the men off, he walks politely over to the old lady, who was incredibly shaken by the scene and gives her bag back. With a smile, he walks away, glancing over at the younger boy and then back at his feet as he leaves the scene, the younger boy watching on in awe, his mouth open wide.
An older version of the young boy walks into a doctors office waiting room, he sits on one of the chairs and glances over at the girls sitting next to him for a while before his eyes dart back to looking forwards. He explains who he is and brags about how adorable he was when he was younger. He laughs a little before his eyes dart back to looking forwards. He brags some more about what he is like in his young adult age, tall, handsome and amazing are a few of his words, he earns some strange and confused glances from the girls of his age sitting a few seats away from him.
The older boy then speaks about his problem and what the powers are doing to him, he asks the audience to sit back and enjoy the show as he will tell his life story and how he deals with his powers. He makes a rainbow motion with his hands and earns another confused look from one of the girls sitting next to him. One of the girls begin to mock him and his story, he gives her a shocked look and goes off on one about how great he is.
Its early in the evening, protagonist is walking down the street on the way to a shop, he places in his ear buds and begins to dance as he turns the music up. An old 80's track plays as he moseys along the street, reminiscing the past and miming the words. He continues to move around to the beat and mimics the words as he moves.
The music is quietened as protagonist is stopped in his tracks by the screams of an old woman, hollering loudly to try and get someone's attention, he sees a few boys skulk away down an alley, emptying the contents of the bag onto the floor, holding up a handful of cash to the light, laughing hysterically. He clenches his fists, and desperately try's to be a hero, shushing the old lady and making his way over to the boys, puffing his chest out and confronting them. Protagonist quietly telling the woman to hush as the boys turn their head at the pair, protagonist moving so his back is positioned against the wall. The music stops as the boy appears behind him, grabbing hold of protagonist as he kicks about and throws his own punches, all whilst imagining he was a superhero. A scuffle is heard from the confrontation, and a few weird sounding noises, spooking the old lady. Protagonist was on the floor now, being held up by his collar by one of the boys. A strange character in all black moves quickly past the alley, assessing what he was going to do to the boys in order to save protagonist. He steps into the light and makes his voice known, the boy who had a firm hand on protagonist lets go of him, he hits the floor with a force, retrieving the old ladies stolen money. The boy looks at Mitch and runs away, he knows who he is and fears him after what he did to is father. Mitch watches the boy leave and then moves towards protagonist, he drapes him over his shoulder and carries him out of the alleyway, cursing to the gods about how stupid protagonist was for trying to be a hero. Mitch and protagonist sit in a small run down restaurant, Mitch scoffing on his food, protagonist sitting with a tissue up his nose staring blankly at Mitch. Mitch brags about how good his burger is and how he is skipping his diet in order to die happy. Mitch steals chips from protagonists plate, he stares at Mitch with a disgusted and confused expression, still holding on to his bleeding nose. A waiter appears at their table and she places a piece of paper next to Mitch. He looks down at this and asks protagonist if he has any money to pay for his meal, Protagonist quietly shaking his head. Protagonist looks as if he has had enough and puts his hands down on the table, causing a sound effect to erupt from his palms, this makes Mitch jump slightly, he crosses his arms with furrowed brows. Protagonist also looks at his arms, retracting them backwards under the table. Protagonist asks Mitch to focus and he angrily obliges. Protagonist then asks Mitch whether he has any tips on being a superhero, Mitch tries to tell him what he thought was useful, but simply disappointed and confused protagonist even more. He attempts to slide away from the restaurant and get away from this crazy dude by telling him that he needed to feed his cat. He slips away without trouble, leaving Mitch to eat the left over food. Protagonist sits in the doctors waiting room still, his legs spread apart like every man does, the two girls still sit a few seats away from him. Protagonist looks at the audience and explains how ironic it is that Mitch's face was on the girls magazine. The girl looks over at protagonist and shakes her head, her partner doing the same. Protagonist hypes himself up by bragging about how amazing he is and then proceeded to try and tell the audience a secret. He leans around a houseplant that was positioned next to him in the waiting room and tells them how useless he is at everything because of his powers. The girls peek around protagonists shoulder and nod at his words, earning a funny look from protagonist who wasn't very happy that they agreed with him, the girls retreat back to reading their magazines. The girl starts to insult him, but is cut off by the receptionist who calls him up for his appointment. He leans on the desk and smoulders, his arm slipping off slightly, he asks the receptionist whether she wants to go out for coffee sometimes, she awkwardly says no, protagonist feeling sad at how bad he is with women. The girls snicker and mock him once again as he makes his way to the doctors room.
Protagonist looks into a large mirror on the wall, brushing his teeth solemnly until each brush makes a sound effect, he grins at this and brushes even faster to make himself happier. He moves on to the kitchen, slipping on his pyjama pants, placing some bread in the toaster for his breakfast, he makes sure this is also acted out as a heroic feat, throwing it up in the air, and the bread landing perfectly in the toaster. Once the toast is done he begins to butter his toast, however, he manages to do this at supersonic speed, surprising himself and finding out that he has a new power to add on to his boring sound effects.
In the form of a quick montage, protagonist eats his toast while sitting in the living room, he quickly stands up and moves on to his bedroom, toast still in his mouth. He slips sweatbands onto his wrists in a very quick motion, he pulls on his coat at the same speed, but then he slows down drastically when he tries to tie his shoelaces. He grabs his laptop and swings himself around on his chair, he sits and taps his fingers on the laptop, scrolling through photos of different superheroes that appears on the screen, constantly saying spandex. He stands up and throws his laptop on the chair he was just positioned on and slides towards the door, he falls over his shoelace with a number of swear words and then leaves the house.
Protagonist arrives at another house, string lights are in the treeline, friends sit around a fire, laughter erupting from everyone. Protagonist and a girl stand in in the middle of all this, they lean in and kiss each other, a sound effect escapes from protagonist, the girl slaps him across the cheek, his head jolts to the side and he touches his injured cheek softly.
Protagonist sits in the doctors office chair and looks into the audience as the doctor fumbles around in the background. He groans about how the love of his life slapped him across the face, his arms flailing about in the air angrily. The doctor taps him on the shoulder, snapping him back to reality. The doctor explains how he has no idea what is happening to protagonist, causing protagonist to lean over in his chair and mock the doctor. He just rolls his eyes and wonders what to do with himself.
Protagonist stands on a high up, secluded area, the sunset beaming in front of him, the perfect scene. He breaths heavily and appears panicked, for a short while he is holding something to his head, seemingly a weapon. He is in a constant state of panic here, he pulls the trigger and only a click can be heard. He glances side ward and breaths shallowly, only a bang flag appears out of it, causing protagonist to swear to the heavens.
The doctor fumbles around the room behind protagonist as he says his final words of the film. The doctor hands protagonist a piece of paper and he places his ice bag on the floor, explaining how this is where his story ends, he gives his final inspirational superhero speech and I repeated in unison by the doctor, who leans down and reveals himself as Mitch, the older, retired superhero he had encountered as his mentor before. It ends with the pair laughing.
Story boarding:
1. Wide shot of Peter laying on the floor reading a comic book.
2. Pan around to Peters front as he reads, a continuous panning shot.
3. Pan up to Peters ceiling, showing a poster with inspiring words.
4. Cut away to a tracking shot, of Peter walking, hears screams.
5. Hides behind a lamp post, this is a wide shot.
6. Close up of Mitch fighting the muggers, cutting back and forth between Mitch and Peter.
7. Wide shot of Mitch and the bad guys on the floor, returns the money with Peter watching in awe.
8. Cuts back and forth between Mitch and Peter s he leaves the scene, Peter looking on with wide eyes.
1. Starts with a close up of Peters phone screen as he clicks his music button.
2. Tracking shot of his feet and he dances through the street.
3. Tracking hot as the camera pans up to reveal his face. pans around to his front.
4. Wide shot which pans around to track his dancing movements.
5. Tracking stops as a woman screams, Peter is jolted by this.
6. Wide shot of Peter looking down the alley with intrigue and then being caught by the bad guys.
7. Close up of Peter, he is grabbed by the bad guy in a wide shot.
8. Fight scene ensues, all in the form of wide shots and close ups to make it mainly off camera.
9. Mitch comes to the rescue, wide shots again, medium shot as he carries Peter out of the alley.
1. Wide shot of Peter and Mitch in the restaurant, a closed sign swings above them, all filmed outside.
2. Medium shot of Mitch as he eats his food.
3. Medium shot of Peter as he holds a tissue to his nose.
4. Close up of Mitch as a hand comically enters the scene, giving him the bill.
5. Another close up of Mitch as he questions the bill and the mark on Peters face.
6. Medium shot of Peter as he asks Mitch some questions about being a superhero.
7. Medium shot again, as Mitch continues to eat and explain things to Peter.
8. Wide shot of the outside through the glass, the pair argue it out.
9. Another wide shot as Peter leaves the scene and Mitch continues to eat the leftover food.
1. Close up of Peter brushing his teeth solemnly in the mirror.
2. Continued close up of Peter brushing his teeth happier this time as it is making a comical sound effect.
3. Wide shot of Peter buttering his toast at supersonic speed.
4. Medium shot of Peter sitting on his computer looking for spandex suits.
5. Extreme close up of Peters coat as he dresses himself, he puts on his shoes in another extreme close up but does this very slowly and it drags out.
6. Wide shot of Peter legging it out of his front door, he slips and then slams the door behind him with a swear, camera pans around to pink sparkly note on a pegboard.
7. Wide shot that pans around the garden, exposing the characters and the occurrences.
8. Extreme close up of Peter and the girl about to kiss.
3. Tracking hot as the camera pans up to reveal his face. pans around to his front.
4. Wide shot which pans around to track his dancing movements.
5. Tracking stops as a woman screams, Peter is jolted by this.
6. Wide shot of Peter looking down the alley with intrigue and then being caught by the bad guys.
7. Close up of Peter, he is grabbed by the bad guy in a wide shot.
8. Fight scene ensues, all in the form of wide shots and close ups to make it mainly off camera.
9. Mitch comes to the rescue, wide shots again, medium shot as he carries Peter out of the alley.
1. Wide shot of Peter and Mitch in the restaurant, a closed sign swings above them, all filmed outside.
2. Medium shot of Mitch as he eats his food.
3. Medium shot of Peter as he holds a tissue to his nose.
4. Close up of Mitch as a hand comically enters the scene, giving him the bill.
5. Another close up of Mitch as he questions the bill and the mark on Peters face.
6. Medium shot of Peter as he asks Mitch some questions about being a superhero.
7. Medium shot again, as Mitch continues to eat and explain things to Peter.
8. Wide shot of the outside through the glass, the pair argue it out.
9. Another wide shot as Peter leaves the scene and Mitch continues to eat the leftover food.
1. Close up of Peter brushing his teeth solemnly in the mirror.
2. Continued close up of Peter brushing his teeth happier this time as it is making a comical sound effect.
3. Wide shot of Peter buttering his toast at supersonic speed.
4. Medium shot of Peter sitting on his computer looking for spandex suits.
5. Extreme close up of Peters coat as he dresses himself, he puts on his shoes in another extreme close up but does this very slowly and it drags out.
6. Wide shot of Peter legging it out of his front door, he slips and then slams the door behind him with a swear, camera pans around to pink sparkly note on a pegboard.
7. Wide shot that pans around the garden, exposing the characters and the occurrences.
8. Extreme close up of Peter and the girl about to kiss.
9. Extreme close up again of Peter as the girl slaps him across the face.
1. Peter looks out into the sunset, back of the head wide shot.
2. Camera focuses on the back of his head, still looks out into the sunset.
3. Pan around to the front of Peter, he looks frightened in a wide shot.
4. Cut away too Peters face, this is an extreme close up, eyes closed tightly.
5. Same shot, Peter opens his eyes in an extreme close up.
6. Same shot again, Peter closes his eyes, preparing himself, extreme close up, pulls the trigger.
7. Pan around, wide shot, Peter opens his eyes again.
8. Pans around, Peter looks forwards again, side of his face shot, looks relieved.
9. Cuts away to show Peters hand holding the gun, a bang flag and a note from Mitch.
2. Camera focuses on the back of his head, still looks out into the sunset.
3. Pan around to the front of Peter, he looks frightened in a wide shot.
4. Cut away too Peters face, this is an extreme close up, eyes closed tightly.
5. Same shot, Peter opens his eyes in an extreme close up.
6. Same shot again, Peter closes his eyes, preparing himself, extreme close up, pulls the trigger.
7. Pan around, wide shot, Peter opens his eyes again.
8. Pans around, Peter looks forwards again, side of his face shot, looks relieved.
9. Cuts away to show Peters hand holding the gun, a bang flag and a note from Mitch.
Script:
NOT THE FINAL SCRIPT!
So, I might have written over 25 different scripts over the course of the weeks in which we have been doing our coursework, but I am finally happy with it, FINALLY, so this is my final script that will be used in my short film.
NEW AND FINAL SCRIPT:
SCENE FADE IN:
INT. (YOUNG) PETER’S BEDROOM - DAY: (ENTER, PURSUED BY A SUPERHERO):
Midday light shines through a window to the left, a bed with superhero covers sits neatly in the corner of the room, next to this, a side drawer accompanies a selection of superhero figurines and an array of posters litter the walls.
A young PETER lays on his stomach, he kicks his legs about in the air while holding a comic book in both hands, looking intriguingly at the pages, he flips the pages with a childish smile on his face. We look upwards to see a poster on the ceiling above young Peter’s bed, that reads, ‘anyone can be a hero’. We shoot upwards, the title credits then appear and disappear with the beat.
EXT. STREET - EVENING (FRIENDS IN VERY LOW PLACES):
6 YEARS LATER:
Its early in the evening, the sky is golden as the sun sets, we move down from the top of a building to PETER, our brunette, blue eyed golden boy, who moves to the beat of ‘you make my dreams’ by Daryl Hall And Oates, he catches the eyes of some passers by, this moves to Peter dancing, we follow him as he moves around the pavement, he stops when he catches a glimpse of himself in a car window, adjusting his brunette locks, he imagines han solo beaming back at him, he finger guns his reflection and continues onwards. His smile is big and beaming with delight, his eyes twinkle in the golden hour of the evening, and he dances like he is in a quiet street. He is suddenly jolted by an excruciatingly loud noise in the distance.
EXT 2. STREET - ALLEYWAY: NIGHT 2. CONTINUOUS: (FRIENDS IN VERY LOW PLACES CONTINUED):
OLD LADY
(sobbing, pointing her finger down an alleyway, panicked)
They… MY PURSE!
Peter freezes on the pavement, lending an ear to the commotion on the other side of the street, he moves towards the noise. He runs across the road, barely missing oncoming traffic, and positions himself so he is leaning on the wall of the alley opening, he turns and glances down the alley briefly, he shushes the old lady who was still upset.
BAD GUY 1
(whispering with excitement as he holds a handful of cash to the dim lights of the alley)
See what did I fuckin tell you!
Peter steps out into the alley opening, puffed chest, strong posture, furrowed brows, pointing at the boys of his age, he holds an angry, determined expression.
PETER
(puffs out his chest in an attempt to make himself look bigger)
Hey asshole!
BAD GUY 1 AND 2 drop the money and the purse on the floor, holding their hands up as if they were surrendering to Peter.
PETER
(malice, spitting out the words)
Give me the fucking purse.
BAD GUY 1 tilts his head slightly, looking Peter up and down, he grins, lowering his arms, nudging and indicating to BAD GUY 2 to do the same.
BAD GUY 1
(huffing, BAD GUY 2 does the same, he nudges him with laughter)
This ain’t none’a ya business boy.
Peter looks at the floor, he looks as if he is trying to think quickly, his irises flicker, before looking back at the two boys, he huffs and rolls his eyes.
PETER
(looking at the OLD LADY with full confidence, then back at the bad guys)
Square up dickhead, i can do this all day.
BAD GUY’S begin to laugh hysterically, BAG GUY 1 is closer to PETER now, grabbing hold of his collar forcefully, angered by his sudden burst of confidence, PETER’S phone falls out of his hand.
PETER
(heaving)
Nevermind!
It looks like a mexican standoff for a few seconds before the boys go for him, BAD GUY 2 swings first, Peter dodges it, he throws in a few good punches, getting BAD GUY 2 to back off completely with an elbow to the nose, one punch that PETER throws lets out a very unexpected and confusing noise for the guys beating the crap out of him and the main reason for the film, a clown horn.
PETER
(confused)
What the fuck?
The BAD GUY’S stop in confusion, before growling in anger, BAD GUY 1 kicks at PETER’S legs, PETER drops to one knee, his self fully exposed to both of the bad guys as his arms are held tightly.
BAD GUY 1
(huffing, holding on to PETER’S collar)
Ain’t so tough now, huh?
PETER
(he grins, looking up at BAD GUY 1, holding on to his arms, nose bleeding, he sticks his finger up at the boys)
BAD GUY 1 scowls and goes to punch PETER once more, he holds his face, crawling towards the purse, he reaches out for it on the floor, as BAD GUY 1 moves to grab PETER again, he is interrupted. A roaring noise erupts from the end of the alleyway, a vintage sports car pulls up at the end of the alley.
FADE IN: (PAYING A SOCIAL VISIT):
INT. MITCH’S CAR (MUSTANG) - CONTINUOUS - NIGHT:
An angel wing white vintage sports car sails down the dusty roads, cruising through the adult disneyland that is the back roads of Essex. Neon and street lights reflect on the windshield. The Creedence Seawater Revival’s ‘Fortunate son’ blasting from the radio. The man taps his fingers on the steering wheel of the car to the beat, the tires gliding peacefully on the tarmac. We see a blurred image of the man through the misted passenger seat window. The blur fades and we see a sardonic smile, he taps his fingers more on the side of the car. The car screeches chaotically around a bend.
2 INT. MITCH’S CAR - CONTINUOUS 2 - NIGHT:
A mysterious man cruises the car. Say hello to MITCH. He’s a man of considerable wealth and taste, but thats not what makes him jump from the screen. Its his vibe. Pure mischief and fun. Sardonic smile. Timeless style. And yes… hes that Mitch. The superhero, with the dumbass powers. But right now, Mitch is getting distracted by a scuffle. Mitch adjusts his mirror to see PETER having the crap beaten out of him by two thugs, Mitch hears him yell over the music.
EXT 2. ALLEYWAY - NIGHT 2: (PAYING A SOCIAL VISIT CONTINUED):
A tall, dark figure steps into the alley. MITCH, the dark figure, grabs hold of the pair. BAD GUY 1 is grabbed from behind by MITCH and thrown across the floor, PETER watches on through squinted eyes, MITCH grabs BAG GUY 2’S shoulder and punches him square in the face, he recoils and falls to the floor. Sound effects erupt from Mitch’s hands, leaving PETER with more questions to answer.
BAD GUY 1 attempts to shake his friend awake, but fails, he runs out of the alley with a shaky breath. With BAD GUY 1 whimpering like a dog and BAD GUY 2 out cold on the floor, MITCH picks up the purse, and returns it to the OLD LADY, she gratefully takes it, she gestures towards PETER, only for MITCH to wave her off, he then goes to lift PETER up.
PETER
(huffing, but smiling)
Mr Stark, I don't feel so good…
MITCH looks down at PETER, his eyes turning from a look of worry, to red and threatening, MITCH rolls his eyes and lifts the boy up, disappointed but also intrigued by him.
MITCH
(huffing and rolling his eyes)
The hell were you thinking kid?
They move out of the alley, PETER now walking on his own, MITCH helps him into the car.
INT./EXT. MITCH’S WHITE MUSTANG - NIGHT [DRIVING]: (FURTHER QUESTIONS OF MALE SUFFERAGE):
The scene begins by panning through the car’s window, and into the scene, PETER and MITCH sit next to each other, both sat in the car, MITCH still driving along. The camera focuses from MITCH’S hand to PETER, who is still sitting beside him. MITCH turns the music back up.
PETER
(Holding his throbbing head in both hands, grimacing slightly)
Can you turn the music down?
MITCH
(tilting his head slightly, with grief)
You know what they say kid, if its too loud, you’re getting too old.
PETER glances over to him and pulls a confused face before bouncing his head back forwards, he holds a tissue to his bleeding nose. He laughs and huffs slightly, MITCH turns the music down anyway even after his sarcastic comment.
PETER
(looking forwards, smiling painfully, MITCH, who was still driving and struggling to look over, glances over at PETER)
Are you really him?
MITCH
(assuringly)
If you're talking about that dumbass with the powers, thats me, but you’re a dumbass with the powers now too!
PETER looks away, and chuckles with a cough.
PETER
(sarcastically)
I could have handled that you know.
MITCH
(sarcastically)
Well, friendly neighbourhood idiot, i just saved your life, could’a just kept driving YOU KNOW.
They both laugh before being hushed by the humming of the car.
PETER
(nostalgically, with great happiness)
I mean, I just can't believe it. You’re MITCH.
MITCH
(questioning, with a slight laugh)
Alright kid i ain't that exciting, am i?
PETER pulls a shocked expression at this, leaning forwards, and then falling back to his seat. He analyses the tissue in his hand and looks for a place to throw the tissue, indecisively, he throws it on the wooden dashboard, earning a look from MITCH.
MITCH
(waving his hand on the dashboard, a sound effect erupting from this, causing PETER to jump slightly.)
Hey I don't wanna be scrubbin’ your blood off my dashboard, (he strokes the dash for a second) He didn't mean it.
PETER looks at him with squinted eyes and a scrunched nose, removing the tissue from the dashboard in a swift motion, as if he was mocking MITCH. A long silence ensues from this.
PETER
(confused)
Question. What do i do now? What the hell am i gonna do with the whole beep boop, im a walking fucking sound box thing?
MITCH
(with full confidence)
Embrace it, use it, hell, you might even end up like me, a national treasure, god-sent, (he laughs) nah just kidding, Just don't let it worry ya, alright? Anyone can be a hero, kid.
MITCH pulls over to the sidewalk, after PETER points out his home, and PETER proceeds to open the door and step out of the car. As he steps out of the car, MITCH writes a note and places it without PETER noticing in his pocket.
MITCH
See ya kid.
PETER
(gratefully)
Thanks man, for all that.
MITCH
(choked)
Ha, okay kid, don’t get caught into any scrapes again, I don’t really wanna be savin’ anymore damsels.
EXT 2. STREET - NIGHT 2: (THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE):
PETER steps onto the street, watching as MITCH speeds off in his car, he stares down at his hands in confusion, he looks around for awhile before his attention is drawn to a beautiful girl, heading directly towards him. Her emerald eyes glint in the moonlight, her smile catches his eyes first.
GIRl
(excitedly)
Hey! Hey! You!
PETER turns around, and looked her in the eyes, they twinkle as he admires her.
GIRL
Are you with MITCH? The MITCH?
PETER looks back at MITCH who had already sped off down the road.
PETER
(sauve)
Yeah… Yeah i am.
GIRL
(wholeheartedly, excited)
Oh my god.
The GIRL kisses PETER, leaving him speechless, and while he is smiling widely and uncontrollably, she writes her number on a post it note and sticks it on PETER’S cheek. The GIRL walks away with a skip in her step. As PETER walks away we see another post it note on his back, it reads ‘you got somethin kid, 6pm tomorrow, P.S. NO SPANDEX’.
SCENE END:
MONTAGE: INT: (SUPERHEROES FOR SPORT):
We then see PETER in his room, attempting to get ready for his first real superhero training from a REAL superhero. This happens to the beat of ‘Loaded’ by Primal Scream. We see PETER through a series of sliding angles, he firstly puts on his clothes and accompanying garments in swift motions, before taking his time to put on his coat and shoes before leaving the room, we are then transported to him sitting on a roof.
PETER grabs his phone and flicks through pictures of various superheroes, we see him mouthe, ‘spandex’ a few times before discarding his phone on the wooden floor.
We are then exposed to zoomed versions of scenes, PETER’S phone screen with an image of SPIDERMAN plastered across it, PETER putting a key into his front door lock, and then his cat, whom he strokes before he leaves the house, we are then exposed to an image of the post it note.
EXT. NIGHT - WALL. (MONEY LENDING AND OTHER SINS):
PETER sits on the top of a wall, a beautiful blue sky beams behind him, he listens to music through his headphones and stares down at his post it note, he looks around aimlessly, looking for MITCH, he hears a sound effect from the side of the wall.
As he goes to investigate, he looks into his cars window, tapping on it, gaining no response, he looks in the other direction, he sees MITCH, and two of the other BAD GUY’S he had confronted earlier. MITCH handed them a wad of cash, the pair splitting it between them. PETER looks on angrily, waiting for MITCH to turn around.
PETER
(sadly)
(sadly)
Hey uh Mr Mitch whats goin on?
MITCH
(waving the men goodbye, turning to see PETER)
Kid? What’re you doing here? This ain't what it looks like.
The camera spins around the pair as PETER begins to get angry, getting in MITCH’S face, shouting.
PETER
(angrily)
I fucking knew it, all that crap about you being a ‘hero’, its just a load of shit? This thing (clenching his fist) was supposed to be the beginning of my life. All that promise and fucking optimism, Mitch and fucking Peter, that feeling like i could take on the whole universe, it was a big lie. Nothing happened.
MITCH
(saddened, angry at himself)
Kid, I’m…
PETER turns away, he points at MITCH, and pauses before he speaks, angrily he says nothing. He pulls the post it note out of his pocket and looks at it for a second before throwing it in MITCH’S face, He walks away, leaving MITCH to wallow and think about his actions.
INT. DAY - BED: (EXIT, PURSUED BY A BRUISED EGO):
PETER sits on the end of a bed, his head is in his hands, he screws up the post it note MITCH gave him and tosses it aside. His phone buzzes and he peeks at it, it is a text from the GIRL he met earlier. She is rejecting him rudely.
We switch to a shot of MITCH in his dark and dim garage, he angrily cleans an old vintage car that had been sitting there for a while, he scrubs quickly before throwing the cloth on the concrete floor, he goes to punch the wall, only to be met with the post it note Peter had given back to him from his youth, he rips it from the wall, walking out of the shot, the scene fading back to PETER.
PETER throws the phone behind him and lays on his back, staring at the ceiling, he thinks for a moment. He huffs and then sat bolt upright, he stands up, grabbing his coat, he goes to punch the wall only to be met with the post it note Mitch had given him, staring at it for a moment and then ripping it from the wall, he leaves the room.
EXT. NIGHT - ALLEYWAY: (A SHORT SCUFFLE IN A PRETTY TOWN):
(George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag” plays here)
BAD GUY
(angrily, exhausted)
We really doin’ this again kid?
PETER
You fucking know it! This time you ain’t getting paid.
BAD GUY
(chuckling slightly)
So, you gonna bark all day boy, or are you gonna bite?
PETER looks at the men angrily, squaring up, and ready to prove his worth. Before they can go for him, PETER stops and gasp at a shadow that appeared behind the bad guys. The camera pans to the side as we see MITCH creep behind one of the men, spinning him around and knocking him out, a sound effect erupting from this, PETER jumps back slightly with wide eyes.
MITCH
(angrily, sarcastically)
Watch your lip sunshine.
BAD GUY 1 looks at MITCH, with a panicked expression. PETER looking on wards at him grinning like a clown, nodding at his redemption.
PETER runs towards BAD GUY 2 and goes to punch him, BAD GUY 1 has the same fate by MITCH, before we see this happen, the scene cuts and the credits role, a sound effect erupts from the pair.
Thats it, The story of The Sound Effect.
CREDITS ROLL.
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