Storyboard for a Short Film

This is a storyboard for a short film made by me and 3 other people during a lesson. We did this to give us background into thinking of ideas for our short film and and allow us to have practice.

Spike Jonze Trailer

Spike Jonze Trailer by sl7032

IMDb

What is IMDb?
IMDb stands for The Internet Movie Database.

What it has to offer:
It has a range of films from short to typical length.
It includes;
- Star Ratings
- Reviews
- Directors
- Related Films
- Top 10 Films
- Genres
- TV Listings
- HD Trailer Gallery
- Films Coming Soon

Example of what it has to offer for each film:
-Film - Street Dance 3D (2010)
-Director
-Writer
-Stars
-Reviews
-List of Cast
-Release Date
-Photos
-Storyline
-Recommendations

Film Magazines

Examples of Film Magazines:
- DVD View
- Empire
- Total Film
- Sight & Sound

Empire Magazine:
- Includes a 20 page spread of films that are in the cinema, their certificates, director, actors/actresses, screenwriter, running time and an overview of the plot. Some of the films also have a review and a star rating.
- On nearly every double page there is an advertisement for a forthcoming film, TV's, cameras or shops/websites selling DVD's - HMV or Play.com
- Interviews with Actors/Actresses about their new film they are starring in, criticisms they are being faced with or a downfall in their life for example.
- Review of the Year - they count down from 33 and get the best or worst reviews for 33 films.

Total Film Magazine:
- Your movie month - what films/events are on and when to watch them, 'The Essential Guide'.
Says what films are coming out in the cinemas for each day, what older DVD's are coming on and what events are on the TV (for example - Wimbledon).
- Interviews with actors/actresses, for example - Jack Black, Joseph Fiennes
- Star Reviews fir films including Sex And The City, Indianna Jones, Kung Fu Panda, The Mist.
- The Dark Knight - the cast offer unprecedented insight into the making of the God Father: Part 2.
- Like Empire Magazine it advertises Films and DVD's in shops.

Film Marketing - Viral Campaigns

The Blair Witch Project was one of the first films to experiment with the very realistic viral campaigns. This viral campaign made everyone talk about it and influenced other film marketing strategies since, in style and media distribution. The success of the film heavily relied on the success of it's campaign. The film budget was very low and the cost of marketing in this way is very cheap as its cost very little to market in this way.

Cloverfield also used the realistic viral campaigns and created a 'buzz'. Just like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield created an enigma as to who/what the 'monster' was. For a Hollywood standard, Cloverfield had a low budget of $15 million compared to The Blair Witch Project which was only $150,000. However, compared to other Hollywood films, the budget of this film was unbelievably low.

The Dark Knight's campaign used a fake 'I believe in Harvey Dent' election poster to create the 'real' world of Gotham City. Initially, Warner Bros. had created a viral campaign, developing promotional sites and trailers highlighing Ledger as the joker. However, after his death, the stsudio focused on its promotional campaign. The picture above is an example of one of the posters created in the promotional campaign.

BRAND CAPITALISM:

In 2005, O'Reilly described brand capitalism, especially virals as 'bottoms up marketing'. This is where mainstream producers copy/imiate strategies of amatuers and prosumers.

The end of a product is no longer comsumption. The creation of virals, websites and artefacts from the hyper real world allow digital life outside the product.

Africa United Trailer

This trailer presents us with the feeling of pride and determination. It's focused around realism/truth/social issues and is a 'road trip' film. The reason I have looked into this trailer is because of the narrative theme it represents.

I'm Here Trailer

This is the trailer for 'I'm Here' by Spike Jonze. It is about the relationship between two robots and how love changes everything.

Across The Hall Trailers - Differences between Theatrical and Short

This is the short film trailer for Across the Hall.

This is the theatrical trailer for Across the Hall.

The theatrical version of the trailer differs from the short film trailer in many ways. The first difference I noticed was the theatrical trailer has a voice over which explains in very little detail what is happening and what to expect in the film. The voice was low and harsh which draws in the audience and makes them feel the tension. However, the short film trailer did not have a voice over and had just a little bit of writing at the end as the theatrical version did also. This allows the audience to know the film is going to be short as there isn't enough of the story to tell without giving it all away.

The second point I noticed was the lighting; in both trailers the lighting was low and sometimes ambient. The short film trailer had a green filter on every now and then which suggests an eerie and unnatural atmosphere. However in the theatrical trailer there was no filters used and low lighting was used throughout.

The sound effects build up the tension and this was used very carefully in the theatrical trailer. Most significantly at the end as they start to become more vast and louder, making us think something is going to happen at the end, but then it leaves us on a cliffhanger, making us want to see the film. In the short film trailer, there isn't as many sound effects as the whole trailer is the two men on the phone. Although, in the background we can hear a faint drumming and it does begin to get louder towards the end of the trailer.

The reason for looking at these trailers is to help me create my short film and to help me decide what genre will be most influential in attracting the largest size audience.

Narrative in Film

Narrative is usually accepted as possessing two components; the story presented and the process of telling a particular story. The narrative discourse is evident in strategies of presentation, especially the position of the camera, which offers a view of the action and emphaises the depth and perspective, but also allows the view to see the faces and movements of the number of people involved. Once we move beyond seeing film and television programmes as transparent representations of the world we need to consider some of the ways in which media texts mediate the world to us. One of the most important of these is through the codes and conventions of narrative. Such narratives may be extended and developed, as in film dramas or documentary programmes where the whole 'story' is told.
Why is narrative important to us?
Stories are very important in helping us make sense of our lives and the world around us. Bordwell and Thompson point out the ways in which we are surrounded by the story form;
1. As children we listen is fairy tales and myths. Reading materials as we progress become short stories, novels, history and biographies.
2. Religion is often presented through a collection of stories/moral tales e.g. the Bible/the Koran.

This is the poster I reproduced from the original poster of I'm Here. I used an original image for the background and then added my own text.

This is the original poster of the short film directed by Spike Jonze called 'I'm Here'. Looking at this poster helps me with my ideas for my own film poster that I need to create as one of my ancillary tasks. I can see how it relates to its genre and how my poster will have to reflect the genre that I choose to use for my short film.

How is time manipulated in films?

How could you show 100 years have passed using only one set?
Focusing on one object, for example a countryside house, and showing small details changing around it. This could be a tree growing next to a house as we know they can take years to grow.
Another example could be, showing the house in a warm countryside setting, covered with flowers and looking tidy; then gradually letting it decay and become old, ruined and 'cold'.

How could you show a year has gone by?
The best example to show a year has gone by would be to show one clip and then the four seasons. For example, using the countryside house again, it could be shown with new dasies/dandilions, then the sun beaming on the house, followed by leaves falling from the trees and finally snow covering the roof and grass.

How could you show 24 hours have passed?
If the clip was showing a man sat in his chair in his house, you could have the moon go down, the sun come up and then the moon go down again. Another example could be zooming in on the clock and the hands quickly moving round to show us the time has passed.

How could you make it obvious that the next part of the narrative is a dream?
The screen could gradually become lighter so it's 'dream-like'. The outside of the screen usually becomes blurry to show it isn't what is actually happening right at that point and it's in someone's mind.

Short Film Festival Websites and Examples

http://www.shortfilms.org.uk/best-short-nominations/

- London Short Film Festival

Examples of the nominated Best Short Films:

YOU'RE THE STRANGER HERE (Tom Geens) - This is a story about a middle-aged woman with a crazy leg. She lives in a fascist regime where people with her condition get shot on the spot. Inspired by the courageous death of one of her fellow sufferers, she goes on an all or nothing quest to change the world, falling in love with her executor in the process.

LAST TRAIN (David Schofield)- This is a short film about a couple catching the last train home, and the quietness of the night is broken by a crowd of boisterous teenagers. Jay (the main male role) begins to become paranoid with their presence and looks as though he sees the group of boys as a threat.

The short film does not have much dialogue, but we can tell what is happening by the facial expressions and body language. This creates the tension and intrigues us to know what will happen next.

THE WAKE (Loren Slater/Kerry Kolbe)- 'The Wake' is a short film set on a small fishing boat in the wintry dockland and channel in the North Sea. It looks at the nature of friendships and how they play out under the influence of unspoken values and decisions.

Why are short films good for directors?

Short films are a good start for directors because it allows them to be noticed and gives them a good head start before producing a longer film. This makes the director more well known so as more of their films are released they become more and more popular. Here are some examples of directors who have gone on to do more after releasing their first short film:

Across The Hall (Alex Merkin)- This short film ran the film festival circuit, and was compared to a modern day Hitchcock film. He has now gone to do produce an expanded feature length version of the film noir thriller.

George Lucas In Love (Joe Nussbaum)- With this short film, Joe Nussbaum has gone on to win several awards including, Best Short Film, Audience awards and Film Discovery Jury award. He has directed 6 other films; Prom (which is currently being produced this year), Sydney White, American Pie - The Naked Mile, Cinema6 (American Short films), Sleepover and ZeD. This shows us how successful Joe Nussbaum has become because a lot of these films have been very well known and popular throughout the world.

I'm Here (Spike Jonze)- Spike Jonze is the most well known director out of these 3, in all directing 34 titles. Some of these include: Where The Wild Things Are, Adaption, The Vampire Attack and Jackass.

These three directors show us how they can go from producing a short film, to directing some of the most well known films across the world.

A2 Media Introduction

This is my blog for my A2 media production work. The task we have been set is to create a 5 minute short film in small groups. All my research and planning work will be on my blog as I create the short film.

STRANGERS is a short film lasting around 7 minutes. The majority of the film was in darkness suggesting it was horror/thriller. I liked the way there was no dialogue, it added to the effect of tension. Although we didn't hear any person speak, we knew what was happening through body language. I also liked the symbolism of the necklace suggesting they were maybe from the same religion and therefore when the other men came they stuck together.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A PUMPKIN is a humerous short film and this is the reason I liked it. It is the pumpkin talking in first person as if it has feelings and almost as if it is human as it says 'they had cut a giant hole in my skull, and were now tearing my innerds from my body'. This makes it funny because we know pumkins can't talk and we know it is just for halloween.

TARBOY is a short film lasting around 6 minutes and I liked it for a couple of reasons. One would be the way there is a 'narrator' explaining the events of the film as it goes on so you know exactly who is who and what is happening. This makes it sound more like a story or a book. Another reason I enjoyed this is because it wasn't a typical heroic short film. Usually the hero kills all the 'bad guys' and survives at the end, in this film it isn't what we expect as he doesn't survive, this is what keeps us interested.

Why is Genre so important to audiences in film?

Genre is the term used for the classification of media texts into groups with similar characteristics. Genre in film is the overall outcome of the film and what it represents. Examples of film genres would be horror, comedy, romance etc. Horror genre would be for people interested in blood/gore, loud dramatic sounds atc. Categorizing films into genres makes it easier to promote to a particular audience. Some people may have a particular prefrence in films and allowing them to know the genre lets them know the basic outline of the film and whether they would be interested to watch it.
Examples of films and their hybrid genres;
Kill Bill - action, thriller, western.
Dusk Till Dawn - thriller, action, western, horror, crime.
Dark City - thriller, horror, film noir(dark), science fiction, futuristic.

This is a more updated version of my contents page.

This is a more updated version of my contents page.

This is my newer verision of my double page spread.

This is my readership profile for my music magazine.

Annotation of photographs.

Magazine analysis of NME.

Evaluation of my student magazine.

First draft of Double Page Spread.

Contents page- First draft

One of the first drafts of my magazine front cover.

Basic research into who reads which types of magazine and the introduction to my magazine task.

This is further research I have done to give me ideas for my music magazine.

This is some ideas I did for my music magazine. I looked at layout ideas, sizes, masthead ideas.

This is a questionnaire I produced to learn more about my target audience.