Familiar Building and Surroundings

This is a sketch of a familiar building that could be used for a short film.

This is a sketch of the surrounding areas around my familiar building.

I feel that this building and the surroundings would best suit a horror genre film. I think this because there are not many escape routes within the building but there are a few in the surrounding areas. When the horror scene is happening within the house, the main character would find it hard to escape whatever they are trying to escape from but once they are out of the house, they can go across a field or down the street, there are many different ways to escape the area.

Fish out of water idea buildings - 

This is the building that is used towards the end of my fish out of water idea. There is a service station, a petrol pump and a telephone box.

This picture shows the surrounding areas around the service station, petrol pump and telephone box. Around this area is a road and more desert.

I will use these buildings and surroundings when my main character gets out of trouble in the desert. He walks into the shop after surviving his week in the desert and gets help from the owner. He also calls his family and they meet him at the shop a little while later. The shop is relevant because that is what my main character first sees and the telephone box was relevant because he uses it to call his family.

Filming Our Music Video - 30th September 2013

REVIEW

What went well - 

- Range of shots used

- Story behind the video is easily shown

- Group member communication

- Filming ran smoothly and quickly

What problems did you face? - 

- The order of the shots was not planned well enough

- Some technical aspects (camera related) 

Example of a storyboard - 17th September 2013

Storyboards - 17th September 2013

Storyboards

For each film that is made, a storyboard is needed. A storyboard is usually a sheet with a certain amount of boxes on it for the pictures of the scene and
an area to write about what is in the shot. A standard storyboard will have between 1 and 6 boxes. In the boxes, there should be a picture of what the shot should look like, this could be complex or simple, as long as the picture shows roughly distances of shots and surroundings. Next to each box, there should be some information about the shot. This information should include -

• Shot number
• Shot type
• Shot Description (Short paragraph)
• Location
• Actors involved
• Audio
• Edit/Transition
• Duration

For each film, there should be a storyboard with boxes showing a drawing and description for each shot in the film or every time the shot is cut. For example, if somebody is walking around a room, you should show the start of the clip in your box on your storyboard and when they leave the room and the shot is cut, it should show the next shot. The picture in the box should show the same shot type as described in the description. For example, If the description says Close-Up, the picture should show a Close-Up view of the scene.

A typical storyboard template -

Script Format - 17th September 2013

Script Format

In order to have a successful script, there is a number of things that you should include. All scripts should have the character's name in BOLD and the speech should be in the CENTRE. You should set the scene by either using INT. (For interior setting) or EXT. (For external setting). Once you have set the scene using INT. or EXT. you should then describe the area in slightly more detail. Another thing you must ensure you do is describe the characters in more detail after introducing them. You should also consider the weather.  You will need to put 'CUT TO:' on the right hand side of the page when you cut to a new scene or location. This should then be followed by INT. or EXT. The font you should use is 'courier' size 12. One last thing you should include in a script is the length of the shots and speech. In your script, you should not include camera direction or movement, this makes it easier to read since camera directions are usually hard to read easily.

Script for Horror Film - 17th September 2013

INT. Abandoned School 

The Main Hall is silent and wrecked

The camera looks through the main doors of the hall and sees STEVE. He looks lost and confused. STEVE is in his mid twenties and looks like he has been lost for a while. His clothes are torn and he looks like he does not care about himself. 

STEVE

Where am I? Is anybody there?

STEVE continues to call for help. Nobody is around. The silence is eerie. Suddenly, there are footsteps. They get gradually louder.

STEVE

Hello?

The footsteps continue to get louder and sound like they are getting closer. 

STEVE

Who is there? You are starting to creep me out now.

STEVE makes his way out of the main doors slowly and cautiously, away from the footsteps. A MYSTERY FIGURE starts talking from the distance, he cannot be seen from where he is. The MYSTERY FIGURE is tall and can only be seen as a silhouette, you can tell that he has a weapon in his hand.

MYSTERY FIGURE

We are here to punish you.

STEVE

I don't understand, who are you?

MYSTERY FIGURE

That doesn't matter, follow the light.

In front of STEVE there is a bright light. He walks slowly towards the light and gradually moves closer to the source. STEVE then meets the source of the light, there is nothing. 

CUT TO:

EXT. Abandoned School Car Park

In the car park is a few rusty, ruined cars and many holes in the ground. The car park has not been used for a while due to the state of the ground, the moss and weeds growing around the edge and the rusty padlocked gates. 

MYSTERY FIGURE

We are still following you, you wont be able to escape.

STEVE

What is this? Why do you want me?

MYSTERY FIGURE

You have betrayed me and my family, you will pay for what you have done! You will be kept prisoner here and if you try and escape, you will just be punished even more.

STEVE is confused and wants to escape but there is no way out. STEVE falls to his knees and screams for help. Nobody is there to hear him in the abandoned surroundings. 

Movie Idea (In Depth) - 16th September 2013

Deserted Sailor -

In my movie idea, there is one main character and a group of 3 characters that will only appear for a short time. The main character is called Rob. Rob is 24 years old and a world champion sailor born in England. The other 3 characters are known as 'The Hijackers' and range from 30-35 years old. The genre of my film will be Adventure/Drama.

One day, Rob was practicing sailing off the coast of Cornwall when suddenly he fell unconscious. The morning before Rob was practicing, he took a double dose of performance steroids to boost his performance in training and the consequences were almost deadly. After Rob fell unconscious, he lost control of his small boat and drifted off to sea, only to be found by 'The Hijackers' who were on a fishing trip early in the morning.

'The Hijackers' took advantage of Rob and decided to kidnap him and take him to a hideout. At the hideout, Rob was knocked out again and then taken across the world by 'The Hijackers' in a private helicopter. The group of 3 then took Rob to the Sahara Desert and dumped him with a survival pack and a compass.

In the survival pack, there were enough resources for Rob to survive for a week maximum. The survival pack contained 4 litres of water, a container of food, a compass and a towel.

The main plot of the story is to follow Rob's journey as he tries to escape to safety using just his survival pack. This will show all things involved in his journey and also flashbacks from his sailing trip before he passed out, his family at home and when he was kidnapped at the hideout.

Later in the film, we are shown Rob's wife and child. The family are shown as innocent and are worried about the whereabouts of Rob. They do not know where he is, what has happened to him and whether he is still alive or not.

At the end of the film, Rob will reach a service station at the edge of the desert and will get the essentials he needs to survive. He also calls his family to tell them he is okay (using the phone in the service station) and then arranges to get picked up by the police closest to where he is. Rob is then re-united with his family and lives the rest of his life with his family.

The poster for my film will be very plain. Most of the poster will be the setting of the desert. There will be somebody sitting in the desert looking over at the distance. The title on the poster will be very rough and messy to promote the condition of the main character whilst in the desert.

Media That uses scripts - 16th September 2013

Talk shows, Magazine TV Shows, Feature films, Quiz shows, News, Adverts, Book readings on radio, TV Soaps, TV plays, Sitcoms, Documentaries, Live events.

9th September 2013 -

Today, we discussed our short film ideas in small groups and then proceeded on to thinking about what we expect from the college, the teachers and the lessons. We then spoke about rules and also discussed what we should do if our expectations of the college, teachers and lessons were not met. We then made this blog and proceeded on to posting our first blog post.