With everything ready for filming we collected our equipment on Friday afternoon and began to shoot at 10am Saturday. We each had a shot list in the order they needed to be filmed so we headed to our first location. The equipment was set up, the crew were ready for filming and we had our character in position. Just as we began, the weather took a turn for the worst and we were facing heavy rain and high wind. This left us struggling to keep the camera dry as well as losing quality of sound due to the wind. Due to the weather we had to change our schedule a little in order for us to continue filming but avoid the weather issues. This took us inside to film, which became a little crowded at times but still managed to shoot the scenes successfully. As the inside filming came to an end we had to Begin filming our outside scenes which we had scheduled for Saturday, luckily the rain had stopped by this time and we were able to film for the rest of the day with no issues regarding weather.
On Sunday we began at the same time and the weather was a lot better, however these gave issues with continuity. Luckily we were filming undercover and used ND filters on the camera to make it seem a little darker. Filming once again ran smoothly although had some issues with peoples roles and how they weren't fulfilling them entirely. Firstly directing the film was left down to a couple of people rather than the person who was assigned the job, as the camera man I found myself directing the cast and choosing the shots alongside the sound recordist.The cast were relatively efficient however one of our actors failed to turn up on the Sunday leaving us with a last minute decision on what to shoot. This upset the schedule slightly but we were soon back on track and at the end of the day we had plenty of time spare to do any last adjustments so we decided to re shoot the first scene we did on Saturday morning as it didn't look great due to the weather conditions. At the end of the day we captured all our footage and watched it back as a group looking to see if there were any mistakes.
As we put together the script we used the creative ideas from mine and Myles scripts to make a final interesting film script. once we had the script finalised it was time to write a shot list. This meant breaking down each scene and figuring out what kind of shots we wanted to use and when we wanted to use them. To do this we arranged a group meeting and all added our own ideas for shots. We then finalised our ideas and left it to the producer to arrange a sensible order in which to shoot each shot.
as our filming weekend grew closer it was time for us to organise everything from equipment to paperwork. I attended a Z1 camera demo and learnt everything about the camera i would be using on the weekend. After we all attended the relevant demos we then went on to testing the equipment we had learnt about, as well as testing the roles we were assigned, by making a very short film. This allowed us to experience what the weekend would be like and how we would all cope with the roles we chose. The short film production went smoothly and we had enough time to do an edit at the end, with some time left over allowing us to experiment with sound and visual effects.
As a group we began to brainstorm ideas about what we could do for a own film. to do this we began by separating out the script giving each individual in the group a couple of scene to rewrite. Then once rewritten we could write out our own ideas that would be good to incorporate into our film. i began by concentrating on the theme of the original script and tried to manipulate it. I kept with the theme of desire and possessions and began to think about deeper ideas such as ones involving alcohol or drug abuse which is a serious problem in many places today. But to give a wide range of ideas i also concentrated on keeping it simple and keeping things, like the object of desire, quite small.
These are some of my original notes What would you do for a pair of shoes? Obsession – the desire to have something, the desire being so great that they will go to any length in order to get the thing they want. In this case a pair of shoes but other ideas could be other expensive or rare items or even people, drugs or alcohol.
This could lead on to themes of addiction especially in the cases of drugs or alcohol, stealing money to pay for these things could really be happening and seems to be an important theme considering the amount of drug and alcohol abuse around at the moment.
after discussing my notes and the other contributions from my group we all decided to keep the idea simple which would allow us to have play around with interesting camera work, unique editing techniques and good use of sound. we decided on the idea of one character with the desire to get a small object but comes across many problems and wasn't as easy as first expected. The main character then performs and immoral act in order to gain this small object and turns out that wasn't really worth the effort in the end. The film will show artistic forms of filming as well as humour and an easy to follow storyline. Once our idea was finalised it was time to start a rewrite of a whole new script.
Celtx In my opion i found celtx to be a life saver, it made rewriting easy and quick. i was able to properly fomat my script with minimal effort and with handy shortcuts it took no time to work out how to use it and how to produce a professional looking script. i would definitely recommend gettin Celtx for anyone who intends on planning a film for themselves it allows the user to write a script, produce a story board and many other useful tasks. Having all these things simplified just makes it easier when it comes to actually making the film, so i feel without Celtx it would have been made a lot harder to organise the planning of our film.
once we rewrote the script as a team it was time to decide who would play what role during the production of the film. It didn't take long to decide and came to an agreement that Bianne would be happy to direct, Myles has had previous experience in sound production so wanted to take that part, Gus and Alfred were more than happy to help each other out with both the role of producer and stage manager as these two people working alongside will allow locations, props and actors to come together nicely. I then agreed to be the cameraman, i have shot films previously and feel confident in producing a well shot film . When it comes to editing we decided that we shall all input our own ideas and with my experience of using Final Cut we should be able to produce a well edited film as a team.
Here's a some what disturbing sequence from City of God but one which i find particularly interesting for its uses of camera techniques and how it uses a variety of different shots and angles to capture what is happening. The camera work is always something i enjoy watching when i see any film because any new techniques is new inspiration.
After looking closely at a few short films and focusing on the difference between professional and amateur short films i took my research further and analysed films that were winners of prestigious films festivals. This to me was important as i could begin to understand if there was a transition from amateur short films to professional short films and film companies. There doesn't seem to be well known, international, famous short film companies, however short films are extremely popular and I feel that it could definitely become a profitable organisation and a respectable art form as well.
During my research i did come across some interesting places which specialise in short films. FutureShorts was a website which was particularly interesting, it focused entirely on short films giving information on good films to watch and upcoming film festivals. It gives a YouTube link to all the videos on there so they available for anyone to watch, therefore i took the opportunity to analyse some more short films and came across some which were personal favourites of mine.
This film was definitely my favourite, it contained everything i enjoy watching in a short film. it wasn't too long, it wasn't confusing yet it was witty and a stroke of genius. The film uses simple use of narration to tell the story and it has clear beginning to the film as well as interesting development. With humour and a clever twist to the end it makes the film worth watching right to the finish, you're not left asking question at the end and as a short film it is brilliantly put together. The storyline is quite unique, one that you couldn't imagine being transformed in to a feature length film but in fact the short, snappy style to the film makes for excellent short film viewing. A must see and one of the most viewed videos from the FutureShorts website.
With a lot of amateur film makers about it seems short films are an effective way of producing examples of a particular film makers styles and ideas. With popularity of short films growing means bigger opportunity for amateurs who want their work to be seen. film festivals and prestigious awards for Short films means that it is becoming a growing industry and one that can seem interesting to both the amateur and professional film maker. However it seems there is a lot of difference between what kind of short films an amateur would produce to those a professional would. I looked at a film called 'Experts Say' which was produced by a group of amateur film makers. The film displays no outstanding use of special effects, sound, camera work or decent acting for that matter, however, the film contains certain qualities that make it special. It does seem to have typical movie ideas of a beginning, a middle and end as well as the use of development in the storyline and also the use of scenes that just seem irrelevant towards the development and resolution of the short film. But those special and unique qualities include the idea of taking something that actually happens and emphasizing it to somewhat ridicule the power of media and in turn create an interesting film which captures the viewers interest and produces a film that slightly pushes the boundaries and experiments with issues that other just wouldn't.
Professional film makers for example would have to be a lot more careful when creating a short film, take Pixar, they are a successful organisation but create short films just to boost their performance, however films that Pixar create tend to use the same style seen in their feature lengths http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omk6TAxJYOg&feature=fvsr. This creates an idea of identity for the company but also avoids offending anyone by making it with the same elements, humour and animation. Pixar wouldn't take the same risks as an amateur film maker therefore giving the amateurs a chance to shine and have their moment by creating something totally unique and giving a great opportunity for experimentation in film, and with 'Experts say' winning the YYC film competition in Calgary it is fair to say that films like this really can be just as appealing if not more appealing than those produced by well known professionals.
