Photo Ideas For Magazine

Props And Costumes Used For Each Location Of Short Film

Location 1 (Pub Outside/Inside Area):

Props Needed:

- Alcohol, which needs to be real at the pub ie. Beer. Tequila could be faked as water.

- Cigarettes

- Lighter

- Shot Glasses

- Pint Glasses

- Stool

Costumes Needed For Mike And Becky:

Mike: 

- Jacket
- T-shirt
- Jeans
- Shoes

Becky: 

- Coat
- Jumper 
- Jeans
- Flat pumps

Location 2 (Becky's House):

Props Needed:

- Ashtray

- The 'Drug', which could be a standard pill 

- Shot glasses

- Fake alcohol, like Apple Juice, for the shots

- Sofa

- Coffee table for the drinks

- Fake Gun

Costumes would be the same as the previous location.

Location 3 (Becky's House):

Props Needed:

- Fake blood, using Ketchup

- Fake Gun

- Sticky Note, or piece of paper

- Sofa

Costumes Needed would be the same as the previous location.

Ideas For Magazine

Font Selection For Short Film

Colour Selections For Short Film

The Wrong Night Draft Screenplay 2

Draft screenplay from GabrielBenLewis

Final Film Poster Idea

• Our final idea for the film poster, is the image of an alcoholic drink, a pill, a cigarette in an ashtray and a note crunched up.
• The idea of these images will give the audience an insight into what the story could be like.
• It gives the audience the impression it might consist of a depressing outcome, since they're are alot of anti-depressants on the poster.
• The tag line we will use for our film poster, would be 'A Night To Forget'.
• The font we will be using, would consist of a dark, edgy font. This will give the audience insight into the genre of the film.
• The background of the picture could be of misty grey clouds, as in our short film there are dark/confusing/depressing aspects.
• The title used for our film poster, would be called 'The Wrong Night'.

Location Moodboard

Possible Pubs For Short Film

Possible House/Appartement For Short Film

Fortnightly Review 1

Short Film Title Brainstorming

Magazine Spread Conventions

Sucker Punch

 

Spring Breakers

Screenplay Format

Poster Conventions

Black Swan 

Gone Girl

Introduction

My name is Gabriel Lewis and I go to Collingham College. I really enjoyed AS media last year, so I decided to to take media for A2. This year i will be making a short film with one of my classmates, Andrew. The film will be 5-7 minutes long. I am really looking forward for this year in Media Studies because we will be gaining a deeper knowledge into how the film industry works and how to make a short film.

Questionaire Results

From this we can see that most of our viewers for our short film will be in between the age of 16-20 years old. However, understandably this is a small age range as the test subjects were similar to my own age. Therefore, I expect the demographic to extend beyond 20 and upto middle age.

 

From this we can see that our audience is slightly more female orientated.

From this we can see that our audience go to the cinema mainly 1-4 times a year, which is a lot lower than the UK average and could be a direct result of digital technology and online streaming.

From this we can see that our viewers favorite way of watching movies in through online streaming. Primarily, this will be because the age demographic will consist of Millenials (Generation Y), who have grown up in a digital age.

 

From this we can see that the audiences favorite genre of movies are Thrillers, Drama, Comedy and Action. This is insightful as it is good to know what other genres Thriller-watchers enjoy. Potentially, this can lead to merging genre types of a film in order to increase audience numbers.

From this we can see that our main audience come from Europe.

From this we can see that most of our viewers are familiar with short films.

From this we can see that people think that having short films playing on TV would attract a larger audience. However, 'Maybe' is still at around 38% as the short film genre is still quite a new medium not in mainstream culture.

From this we can see that the audiences would agree on it mainly if they are mixed genres becuase people naturally have mixed interests. They are probably inquisitive about how this new medium can he used in traditional genres and how this would be different.

From this we can see that the viewers would prefer to watch films rather than TV series. This is potentially due to that we live in an age of instant gratification and TV series force the view to wait a period of time to watch the next episode, whereas in a film all the action is in one time frame.

Target Audience Profile

 Target Audience Profile

For our short film (The Wrong Night), our target audience would be between the ages of 16-20 and mainly being females. It seems as if most of our viewers are familiar with short films, but would prefer to watch length films. Our viewers preferred way of watching films is through online streaming. Thrillers seem to be a popular genre for our target audience.

Demographics 

Short films can be considered as high cultured. So our audience would be in the category ABC1.

Psychographics 

As our film is a short film, the target psychographics could be the explorer because short films are generally not what the viewers would want to watch.

The explorer would want to try new ideas and experiences. Our other target psychographic could be the aspirer and the succeeder.

The Aspirer: Materialist, acquisitive people, who are driven by others perceptions of them rather than by their own values. As a result, they respond to what others perceive as being superficial: image, appearance, persona, charisma and fashion. An attractive pack is as important to them as its contents. Their core in life is for status.

The Succeeder: Succeeders possess self confidence, have a strong goal orientation and tend to be very organised. As a result, they tend to occupy positions of responsibility in society. Their investment in the status means they tend to support it. When it comes to brands, they seek reward and prestige, and will often seek out the best, because that is what they feel and deserve. On the other hand, they also seek out caring and protective brands. Their aggressive attitude to life means they need to relax occasionally. Their core in life is for control.

Short film analysis 2

 Room 8

All we know about his short film is that it is set in a Polish prison. Throughout the whole narrative the audience tries to figure out the purpose of what is going on; The characters, the crimes they committed, the purpose of trapping the prisoners inside the box. Like a lot of short films, Room 8 is very surrealist and requires the audience to suspend disbelief while watching. Room 8 explores a world within a world, this incredibly unique structure provides fantastic entertainment as well as the viewers engaging with their own questions. We are obliged to question out of the two prisoners, who is the victim and who is the villain. The story is complex, however the structure is quite simple; Once a prisoner is captured in the matchbox another one is brought in. It is a narrative cycle that continuously repeats itself.

Conventions Of A Short Film

Conventions of a short film include:

Characters: In short films there is much deeper focus on fewer characters, rather than a wider focus on many character as within a feature film. Practically this is due to the time constraints of the genre, but primarily this is because short films are more focused on emotion and sensation rather than action. Although there is a greater focus on fewer characters, there is always a sense of mysetery and not knowing the full deimension of these character, which keeps the viewer engaged with the action on screen.

Twist: Short films are usually defined by having a dramatic twist, keeping the suspense of the narrative and audience anticipating what will happen. Through this, the genre of a short film becomes more of an active art form rather than passive. The imact of the dramatic twist in intensified by the short length of the film. Furthermore, because of this twist the short film can often be cyclical in structure and begin to repeat itself once more, making the view question where the story actually begins and ends.

Budget: Short films generally have a low budget. This is due to the fact that the directors are independent, and so their primary means of funding is private. The budget usually can be kept small because the general construct of short films only using few actors and locations. However today, the use of a short film for commercial purposes is becoming more popular. Companies invest great amounts of money into their high budget adveritising to communicate their products in the form of a short film, for example "Scarecrow" by Chipotle. Whether the short film is artistic or coorporate, they will have an engageing emotional narrative.

Length: Short movies are generally around five to ten minutes, which makes the narrative more potent. The ratio of drama-time is much more intensified in short films in comparison to feature films. Moreover, on s cultural level, modern society is looking its attention span in this age of instant gratification. The digital revolution spurred this on. Arguably, the short film genre is entertainment responding to the changes in our society.

Situation: Short films usually take a situation that the viewers can relate to and then turn this situation on its head. The twist in the film will usually transform the viewers perception on what they believe to be familar and expose new understandings or meanings that have been lying right beneath their nose (e.g the source of the burger in 'The Ellington Kid'). Distorting the familiar, makes the viewers feel like they can relate to the narrative, and with the twist of this makes the impact greater and more intriguing. The narrative of a short film is a lot less predictable than a feature film.
 

Wrong Night Draft Screenplay 1

Short Film Analysis 1

The Ellington Kid

This short film tells the story of a South London Kebab shop that has a dark and sinister past. Nathan describes the stabbing of the Ellington kid to Beefy, which is conveyed to the audience through a series of flashbacks. The past and present narratives are delivered simultaneously. Nathan's voice over span's across both time frames, making the Ellington kid's story happen in real time. It puts the viewer in the moment. This effect creates a story within a story, making Nathan'a character very unique as he is a character in one plot, but a narrator in another. The cuts between shots are very frequent which builds tension and keeps the viewers intrigued. Because of the narrative of the short film, cut-away shots are crucially important, unlike in feature length films. Story telling is shown through suggestions and gossip rather than evidence or fact. The sharpening of knives and the chopping of meat in the beginning forces the audience to actively participate in the narrative and decide upon what they think is true or real. In this short film, the viewers are not given all the answers, it is for them to decide what is the truth. This short film has an open ending because it ends with one of the workers sharpening the knife he uses to cut the meat, and smirking listening to Nathan's story. Suggesting that the Ellington kid story was not a myth after all.

Story Treatement

Our short story talks about Mike who is going through a couple of ongoing issues that are making him depressed.

It is a Friday night, the start of a long weekend since there was a bank holiday on Monday. Mike starts heading down to the pub in a depressive mood. He was going to drink to try and get his mind off  his problems. As he arrives at the pub, he starts drinking one pint after the other, which isn't his usual thing.

After a fair few pints he moved onto tequila. Within the thrid shot he felt very drunk. He went outside to get some air and decided to have a cigarette, he had just started smoking so he struggled to inhale the cigarette.

While he is smoking his cigarette, a lady comes and starts talking to him. She realised that he wasn't a frequent smoker, so she started to make fun of him in a nice way. Her name was Becky. They started to get into a deep conversation about personal issues, and this showed them that they had someting in common, their depression. After a long conversation about their problems, Becky invites Mike back to her house for a few more drinks. Mike was up for it of course, but his friends that worked at the bar were a bit sceptical as they had never seen her before.

Mike and Becky started making their way to her place. Mike struggled to walk but Becky helped him get there safely.

When they finally arrived at Becky's house, Becky started pouring shots of tequila into their glasses. While Mike wasn't paying attention, Becky put some kind of pill in his glass.

When Mike took the shot, seconds later he blanks out. When he wakes up the next morning from the blackout. He finds himslef in his bed, with blood all over his hands and a gun next to him. Whilst he is still very confused and slightly hangover from all the alcohol he had, in his pocket he finds a note, saying: "Thank you for helping me out, with something that i haven't been able to do, you have finally free'd me x."

Mike gets an instant flashback of what happened after he blanked out, which was him at gunpoint to Becky.

The film ends after the flashback, so the viewers are left on a cliffhanger due to the suspence of the situation.

Preliminary Audience Questionaire

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/hmxfqlj

Short Film Step Outlines

Andrew/Gabriel Step Outlines 

Why we choose these questions for the questionaire

Andrew and me choose these questions to be able to get a general feeling of what the audiences want. Firstly, from our questions that we asked to do with age and gender, we will be able to see our target audience and what will be appropraite to show. Secondly, the questions to do with how often people go to the cinema, their prefered way of watching films and what genre they enjoy the most, this will give us insight into how we might make our film enjoyable and with ease for the viewers. Thirdly, finding out the origin of where most of our viewers will help us to know what their prefered type of film is, for example a thriller movie. In asking the audiences if they prefer short films or long films, this will make it easier to fufil the demands of the viewers and make the film as good as possible for their enjoyement.

Characters Biography

Mike:

• He is in his early 20s and is going through a rough time.
• His problems consist of family, work and girlfriend issues.
• Whenever he is deppressed he starts drinking a lot.
• He has recently started smoking cigarettes.  
• Has started his own business, but hasn't paid back the loan he owns.

Becky:

• She is in her late 20's, also going through a similar rough period, like Mike.
• Her problems consist of work and boyfriend related issues.
• She has a decent job, as a secretary, but doesn't like being told what to do.

Preliminary Story Idea

Main Story Idea:

• Our main character is a guy going through depression due to work and personal problems.
• In the first scene, he will be walking over to the pub in frustration.
• He arrives to the pub and starts having a few pints.
• After getting a bit tipsy, he moves on to shots.
• The pub starts closing down, he goes outside for a cigarette and comes across a lady.
• They start a conversation about ongoing issues the both of them are going through.
• She offers the guy to go back to her house for a few more drinks.
• They walk back to her house.
• They start drinking.
• She offers a shot of tequila but puts some sort of drug in the shot glass.
• As soon as he takes the shot, he blanks out.
• He wakes up in his own bed, with a gun and blood on his hands and bed.
• He finds a note in his pocket from the lady, saying thank you for helping me out.
• He gets a sudden flash back of what happened. 

Why I Like It:

• I like how the story progresses throughout.
• This story can be considered a mix between a drama/thriller and these are my favorite types of genres.
• I like the way that both characters have the theme of depression in common.
• The way the guy doesn't remember anything, leaves the viewers in suspense.
• The final scene where there is the flashback is a good way of presenting to the viewers what actually happened after the main character blanked out.

Story Ideas

Film Ideas

First Idea

• Our main character, Mike, is going through a time of depression due to work and personal problems.
• In the first scene, Mike will be walking to the pub in desperation.
• Mike arrives at the pub and starts having a few pints.
• After getting a bit tipsy, Mike moves onto shots.
• Mike goes outside for a cigarette and comes across an attractive lady, Becky.
• They start talking to eachother and discuss ongoing issues that they are both going through.
• Becky suggests to go back to her house for a few more drinks.
• They walk back to her house.
• They start drinking and talking.
• Becky offers a shot of tequila and puts some sort of drug in the shot glass, while Mike isn't looking.
• As soon as he takes the shot, he blanks out.
• Mike wakes up to see the dead body of Becky and next to him a gun with blood on it.
• Mike finds a note in his pocket from Becky, saying 'thank you for helping me out'.
• Mike gets a sudden flash back of what happened: Him at gunpoint to Becky.
• Mike starts panicking and becoming hysterical from the realisation of the crime he has just committed. 

Pros:

• Andrew, my partner for this task, has a friend that owns a bar, and he has agreed that we will be able to use it for our short film.
• The film doesn't require many roles, so the casting won't be a problem: Becky, Mike, and the Barman.
• The actor we have in mind to play Mike is available.
• The actress we have in mind to play Becky is available.
• We will be able to use my house for one of the locations.
• The majority of the locations we will be shooting at are internal, therefore we will not need to rely on natural light or external weather conditions.
• The costumes and the props will be easy to find.

Cons:

• It might be hard to make the blood and the gun look realistic.
• The people we have cast for the roles have had no previous acting experiences, so we think that a lot of time will be used up from scene retakes.
• As this is being filmed in a pub with other people inside, the sound quality of the audio could interfere and disrupt the dialogue. If so, we will try and edit the noise out in post production or re-record the audio separately at a later date.
• Our editing skills are quite basic, so especially for the flashback scene it will require more time and work to make it look good. 

Second Idea

• A guy wakes up in a field, on a bench.
• He looks into his pockets.
• Has a different phone and a set of car keys.
• He gets a call from a private number.
• The caller demands him to get in a car not far from him and tells him what he needs to do in order to save his son, who they have as a hostage.
• He follows their orders in the hope of saving his son.
• He is forced to break into a house and take what is in the safe.
• As soon as he enters the room where the safe is located, the alarms start going off. He panics.
• He is trapped not knowing what to do, with the risk of his son being killed.
• He gets a call from the private number again and the caller offers his son back if he meets them under a bridge at midnight.
• When he escapes from the house, he starts getting paranoid from the fact that the police could arrest him.
• He arrives under the bridge to find out that it was a prank set up by his friends.
• His son is safe and played along with the parank.

Pros:

• Finding a field for the filming won't be hard.
• We have phones that can be used as props.
• We can use my younger brother to play the role of the son.
• We can use my house as a location and it also has an alarm which we can set off.
• We have a group of friends that can play the roles of the friends.

Cons:

• Neither of us have a car and renting one could be expensive.
• Recreating the break into the house may prove difficult. We want to film what looks like damage, not cause actual damage.
• Neither of us have a safe in our homes.

Third Idea:

• A guy goes to the pub.
• He has a few pints.
• A man next to this guy, accidentally swaps phones.
• He gets a call from an unknown number.
• Turns out, its a drug king, who is demanding a delivery of a package.
• The guy refuses to do it as he was the wrong guy.
• The drug king insists he has men watching him and has to do the delivery, if he wants to live.
• He proceeds to the task he had been asked to do.
• The guy goes to the location where he had to pick up the package.
• As soon as he arrives, police cars arrive on the spot.
• He ends up being fooled as an experiment by the police to see to what extent someone will do something to save their life.

Pro's:

• Pub won't be hard to use as Andrew has a friend that has said we can use his.
• We won't need many locations.
• It doesn't require many people.
• Mobiles are easy to obtain.

Con's:

• Finding police outfits that look realistic could be hard to find.
• Finding a police car and having the permission to use it would be incredibly difficult. 

Brief Identification

 This year i will be doing a short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

- A poster for the film
- A film magazine review page featuring th film

How I Think A2 Will Be

In AS, my group and I created an opening sequence to a Thriller film. I think that A2 will be different to AS because the short film we need to make this year has to be longer and dosen't have a set genre. From what we learnt last year about making a short film, we can apply our knowledge on filming, editing etc... to be able to make a good short film. Also, this year for the film we will need to create a poster and a magazine review. This will be a
difficult but fun activity to do.