Mind Map

Here is my mind map, I have tried to evolve my ideas and explore my influences on this map. I first had three ideas, which are shown on the right hand side, my main idea was a zombie/detective kind of film because I wanted to mix the genre of film noir, horror and thriller. My story has changed since my mind map I have changed my main idea a little, without a detective and changed the main idea of zombie but sticking with everything else, a zombie will appear, and all genres I stated will still be in place. I have included theories in my mind that link to my film which can be seen all over my mind map in different groups like representation, narrative, audience and genre. I will be using some techniques in other films that have influenced me like the shining where there use quick flash cuts, connoting that danger about to happen.

Ideas From Short Films

In researching my short films I came across some very interesting styles used and ideas in the story that my film could use. Like for instance in ‘The Life and Death of a Pumpkin’ the story was narrated describing the pumpkins slow death and I seeing this, it was a good idea to have the narration in the beginning of my film to describe Noah’s accident. It has a good effect because you get to know the character and feel more sympathy for him when there is an accident. Another idea I’m using is from ‘Lovefield’ where there is a massive red herring leading the audience of thinking the complete opposite of what is actually happening, and I want to do that with my film by at the end explaining that all this time Noah has ad been dead. This would, I believe will make the film more exciting by having twist and turns and give the audience no sense of security and feel not surprised but shocked at the end. In the short film ‘Snap’ has given me an idea of how to film someone who is running and I think that tracking from behind is the best way for the type of film I’m shooting, because I want everything to be mysterious. Last of all ‘Inside’ gave me the idea of having someone like a split personality to contact with Noah just to suggest to the audience that he is still and alive and to Noah himself.

Shooting Plan

I intend to plan all of my film in one go on the December 17th, at 3:00. I will be using the camera and a tripod and if I do not finish the whole of the filming on that day, I have planned a second filming session just in case on the 15th January at 3:00. I have also arranged my actors, which will be: -
Rob - Noah Gray
Matt - Jack Oswald
Chloe - Coral Gray
I have discussed their character and what costumes to wear and what their role is in the film.

Research of Short Films

‘The Life and Death of a Pumpkin’ (Aaron Yonda 2006)

This film tells the tale of a pumpkin being picked from its patch to being left on the floor at Halloween. It’s a mix genre between comedy and horror because it gives a description of what a pumpkin must feel like when Halloween does come, like for instance when the pumpkin is carved it describes the pain and has camera shots from the inside to make it seem more gruesome. Even though it is described like this it does seem funny because all the stages that the pumpkin goes through is actually true and they have developed it to make it into a horror to. The narration over the film compliments the film because it gives the pumpkin its own voice. The shots they use in this film are all ones with one object being it (the pumpkin and at one stage at child.) this connotes that the pumpkin is isolated and all alone and that the children are evil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-1aui-wluE

‘The Black Hole’ (Diamond Dugs 2009)

In this film it shows what would happen if a man a would be able to put any limb through any solid object, and in the end it turns out that he uses it for greed and is punished by being locked in the safe. In this film the camera shots and editing style changes after he has found this black hole. At the beginning the editing is slow and the camera shots are at a medium shot and are boring. But after the black hole is found the editing gets faster and different shots are formed to flow together and seems more exciting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk

‘Lovefield’ (Mathieu Ratthe 2008)

This film is a massive red herring building you up to thinking this man has killed someone, but it is quite the opposite, instead he has brought life into the world instead of taking it. The woman in labour was meant to be interpreted as her being killed. The shots used in this film make the story seem ambiguous like only showing the victims feet and keep cutting to the crow. Also the cuts are very fast to maybe connote the tension in the scene building it up for something big, also with the quick cuts from the crow to the protagonist seem to portray that someone is watching him. The cuts then slow and the shot seem to show more long short than before where they showed mostly close up and medium shots. The cuts slow to show that everything is ok and that nothing bad was actually happening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meeZifCVro

‘Non-Fat’ (Oliver Manzi)

This is a very short film where a woman seems to be bringing up his weight in what she wants to order. I believe that this then cuts without anyone knowing to what the overweight man would like to do her, like a dream where he beats up for saying what she did. The effect they used in this film is like a CCTV shot where it is poised in the corner in room with a black and white shot. One of the things that gave away that it was a short film is that no one in the shop turned round or even moved. There is only one shot and no cuts used in this film which is quite strange.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svwPZzpe8vU

‘Snap’ (Manolo Celi 2006)

This film shows a man stealing camera but only for a short period of time where he uses all the film in the camera taking pictures of the person chasing him for their camera. The film does well as straight away as he steals the camera the cuts speed up instantly and the camera tracks with the person in the shot quite quickly. It also does well to keep both characters in the shot when the chase is happening. The film uses a freeze frame when the camera takes a photo to show what point the picture has been taken to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmxX2r-uD8I

‘Inside’ (Trevor Sands 2008)

This is my favourite film I have come across as it depicts a person with a multiple personality disorder and what is going on in their mind and having the camera through their point of view. They showed the multiple personality by adding more and more character behind the victim with all different looks and personality, and as they add more the camera shot begins to get longer with every shot and seem wider because there are more people in the shot. On the other side of the table is the person trying to help the guy with the disorder and she always has a medium shot to show that she is in control. But all along it seems that, that woman is actually part of his disorder because when she leaves a man was already sitting in her seat and she emerges from behind him as another disorder. The cuts get very quick when more characters are added as well to create more tension between the woman and the victim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjTOs1L3SBg

'Offside' (Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv 2005)

This short film by Erez Tadmor & Guy Nattiv in 2005 is very strange it shows that football can bring even enemies together, as 2 men are guarding a secure area until 2 men with guns come along, but instead of them shooting each other they stop and listen to the football at gun point so they can hear the final score. this may also show that men are prepared to listen to football than rather fight for their country. but at the end where they finally shoot, it seems that the person who first shot, shot by accident because of the expression on his face. throughout the scene the radio seems to explain the situation that the 4 men are in. when the shoot-up is finished they believe that their team has won but their is a twist as they lie dead on the floor, and that, that goal was offside. this film has inspired me to do something tense like this film as they are all at gun point which kept me on the edge of my seat, and i want that in my film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIxBRA5qjA

The comparisons that i found between all of these films that they all have surprising endings and try to be ambiguous at the the beginning and the middle of the story. Examples of this are in 'Lovefield' where you are lead up to believe that someone is being murdered, when it is the complete opposite, the man accused by the viewer for murder was actually bringing life into the world. Another example is in 'Snap', where the viewer is really confused when this guy is stealing camera and taking photos of the victim, but it the end, you find out its just for fun. i want to use this repertoire of red herrings, ambiguity and confusion in my film so that i can send the viewer into a sense of insecurity putting them in the film and making them feel like they know what is going on when they will not.
Another point i would like to put into my repertoire is from the short film 'The Life and Death of A Pumpkin' which uses narration of what a pumpkin feels like on halloween. I will use that idea at the beginning of the film, where he describes his life up to then giving the audience a relationship between the characters in the space of 10 seconds.

Synopsis

Title - Daedmi

Synopsis

A stressful Shrink has had to deal with the loss of his wife. Ever since the fatal accident Noah has never forgiven himself for his wife’s death. A year on and he is still grieving for his wife, he has given up smoking and has not spoken to anyone except his client for a year. Jack Oswald is his only client who is a schizophrenic and has become a client exactly a year ago.

Recently Noah has started to see flashes of his dead wife, which is making him feel ill and depressed. He keeps this illness a secret, which is a bad choice; his flashes have been becoming more like reality everyday. Until, it does …

He wakes up outside after falling asleep while considering whether to break his no smoking run. He wakes up after hearing a scream he recognised before. He runs to see what has happened, only to find his dead wife standing at the top of the road. He runs to her only to see her she falls down at the top at the road and Noah runs to save her, as he pulls her over he stares in sock to find out that its not his wife but himself. he runs as fast as he can not looking where he is going and enters bright light or into a car. the scene starts up again with him on the floor the camera zooms out to show his wife still alive and Noah dead on the floor from a car crash.

Props

• Make–Up (Zombish Look)
• Car
• Sun lounger
• Cigar or Cigarette
• Watch

Costumes

• Noah -Trousers, White Shirt, Trench Coat and Smart Shoes (Hat?)
• Jack - Tracksuit Bottoms (Or Jeans?), T-shirt and Trainers
• Coral - Jeans, T-Shirt, Trainers

How My Film Uses Theories of Narrative, Representation and Audience

The narrative theories that my film uses are first of all Roland Barthes who suggested that narrative works with five codes which makes the reader make sense of it. The ones that apply for my film are; The Enigma code, The Cultural code and The Symbolic code.
The Enigma code is where the film sets questions, and adds more during the film to keep the viewers interest, I will be using this theory because I do think it’s a useful idea to keep the viewer waiting with anticipation, and that the basis of my film is ambiguous and actually asks itself questions, with a ending leaving the audience thinking. The Cultural code refers to the knowledge of time, giving little symbols or messages that indicate where and when the film is set. I’m using this by identifying that even though it is a film noir genre which is usually set back in the day, that my film will be modern to and I will give off messages to show this. The last code is the Symbolic code, which is effectively Levi Strauss’s idea of Binary Oppositions, which show the opposites in a film to create a conflict not only in the film but also in the audience. I will do this by oppositions like sophisticated/ common, smart/dumb, good/ evil and many more.

I am also using Levi Strauss’s idea of Binary Oppositions but as I have already explained I will go on to the next theorist. I will use Todorov’s idea of the equilibrium, which he stated that all stories begin with what he called an equilibrium. This is disrupted by some event sitting in a train of series of events, to close with a different equilibrium. I will use this by having this equilibrium of a detective on a normal case that all policemen are one stating a normal positive setting. I will make the film suffer a disequilibrium where he has headaches and witnesses a murder. But instead of having a new equilibrium I will create a new type of equilibrium I call the inequilibrium where even though there has been a disturbance and all films it is usually solved, instead I create more confusion and may even suffer even more of a disequilibrium to some viewers and leave the end of a story on a question leaving the answer to the viewers interpretation.

The last narrative theorist I’m using is prop where he states that whatever the surface differences it was possible to group characters and actions into : Eight character roles which are :1. The hero 2.The villain. 3. The donor 4.The (magical) helper. 5&6.The princess and her father 7.The dispatcher 8. [False hero]. These are basically in every film and I will only use a few of these, are those will be; the helper, the false hero and the villain.

Character Profiles

Main Character – Noah Gray
Schizophrenic – Jack Oswald
Dead Wife – Coral Gray


Noah Gray

• Gender – Male

• Age – 39

• Costume - Shirt (white), Coat, and Trousers.

• About Him – Noah Gray is a determined man who has a passion for his job because it makes him feel like a superhero. Recently he has become quite ill and has started to see flashes of his dead wife, which makes him feel distraught and even more ill. He believes his recent illness is to do with the fact that he has stopped smoking making him frustrated and fidgety also.

• History – A few years ago Noah had a wife who was tragically killed in a car crash. The crash was seen as an accident but only Noah knew it was his fault. If there was just the crash she would of survived, but because Noah was smoking whilst driving The cigarette was dropped into a puddle of petrol leaking from the car which started of the fire and the explosion, killing his wife.

Jack Oswald

• Gender – Male

• Age – 21

• Costume – Jeans, T-Shirt, and a Coat.

• About Him – Jack is a client of Noah’s and has been for a year now, he is a schizophrenic who has no family, friends and hardly knows anyone. He never leaves his house, which was given to him by his dead parents and has trouble paying for the bills, and so lives in a house with no heating, electricity and gas. Noah does not bother with Jack any more, but goes round everyday for sympathy.

• History – N/A


Coral Gray

• Gender – Female

• Age – 35

• Costume – T-shirt, Jeans and Make-up (Zombie)

• About Her – She is seemed to be part of Noah’s dream as a zombie, but is it a dream? She does not talk, but she does scream, grunt and heavy breathe. The only emotion shown in this film is anger towards Noah. But it turns out that she is not dead, and she is grieving her loss of her husband.

• History – Coral dies in a car crash a couple of years ago that Noah feels was his fault. They meet 10 years ago and had been married for 6 years.

Research - Film Noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood’s classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style

The term noir (French for "black film") first applied to Hollywood movies by French critic Nino Frank in 1946

Film noirs can encompass a range of plots, these are: -

• The central figure may be a private eye (The Big Sleep)
• A plain clothes policeman (The Big Heat)
• An ageing boxer (The Set-Up)
• A hapless grifter (Night and The City)
• A law abiding citizen lured into a life of crime (Gun Crazy)
• Or simply a victim of circumstances (D.O.A.)

From the 1960s onward, many pictures have come out that share attributes with film noirs of the classic period, often treating noir conventions in a self reflexive manner. Such latter-day works in a noir mode are often referred to as neo-noirs.

Reference – ‘Wikipedia’ and a video from ‘Youtube’

I will be using the element of film noir at the beginning of my film where I use a long lasting shot of the subject from a point of view shot. It will be in black and white, describing his life. The only other time film noir will come up in my film is at the end where I go back to black and white and he describes his death.

Evolvement Of Ideas

Since the ideas I first created I have come up with a narrative and a structure to work on for 3 film ideas I have the first is about a small town where everything is nice and the town is a community, until you see a dark alley way of some kind with a shady figure. The dark character has found a lever, and decides to pull. The whole the town goes black and white and the town are in shock and distress. One of the commuters finds the lever and pulls. The town goes back to colour. the shady comes back and pulls the lever, but this time takes the level with him leaving the town in black and white and the audience guessing will the town stay like that forever. I have decided for this film to be a thriller aiming at ages between 16 - 40 because its a mysterious but yet fun short film which i think will be enjoyed by those ages. The representation in this film will be that the hero and the villain are both men who they usually are, but the villain will have a disfigurement (a disability) to make him seem different. The narrative will be a linear narrative with a beginning, middle and end, this narrative will also be one by Propp who said that each film has a set of characters like the hero, villain, princess etc.
my second idea is point of view short film where it seems that its a person getting up to go to work for instance, but it turns out to be a dog, so people are caught of guard when watching. The narrative for this film is again linear but the theory for this short film is one by Roland Barthes who came up with codes that makes narratives work. The 2 that suit this film is the action code and enigma code. The action code is where a model of actions helps the viewers place details in plot sequences and determine how much action should be shown. So it can help me how much i should disguise the fact the man person is actually a dog, or give some hints that it is.
My third idea is the main idea; this is a film/horror film. A detective is on the case of mysterious killings which all seem to be the same, he talks to someone about the killings at his desk. (the detective has recently stopped smoking and that’s one point they get on to) he goes outside for a cigar but decides he has come to far and falls asleep.(dream) he wakes up hearing a scream and runs to it. When he reaches there, there is a woman standing in the middle of the road, he calls out to her and she runs at him. Just before they touch he wakes up and zooms out and turns out he is the killer. (Because ever since he stopped smoking he has manifested a new bad habit) the narrative for the story is linear, but could be seen as an open structure where the viewer is left wondering. My theory for this film comes from Todorov where came up with the equilibrium where everything is as it should be, but then suffers an equilibrium creating a new equilibrium.

Practice Movie Poster

This is my Movie Poster Vir Inferus, this is the practise poster i did with a partner where we quickly had to make up a film with a poster, and this is the end product

Photography Task Reflection

Our photography task was very interesting I finally understood how exposure works and how it can compliment someone but also that it can be too much; it came out with very good results by letting more light in because it disguised all blemishes on the subject and lighted up her face to show her personality. Also giving shadows on someone’s face to make them seem sinister and evil is very good. using the aperture was useful because by having a smaller aperture the more that objects will appear sharp from foreground to background, while having a big aperture gives a narrow depth of field and have fewer things in focus. This helped us in some pictures so we could focus on the subjects face and show their personality

Ideas

At the moment I have came I up with three ideas for my short film, I still think that there may be something better out there and maybe these ideas can still be evolved. The first is a zombie short film, where the film would be based a zombies recurring dream, or some one having a dream, and by having this dream about having been attacked by a zombie, he becomes one. The second idea I had is where there is a nice little town with go about there ways while a suspicious looking man down an alley way pulls a lever a turns the whole town into black and white and turns the town to chaos. my third idea is where a man or woman is able to see a certain persons memories, but it turns out that she has a split personality and the memories she sees in the other person is actually her own.

Audience Research Answers and Questions

These are the questions that i will be asking for my research about what people think about short and genre films.
1. What Do You Think A Short Film Is?
2. What Experience Do You Have Of Watching Short Films?
3. Where Have You See Them?
4. If Don’t Watch Them, Why Don’t You?
5. Do You Now Have An Appetite For Watching Them?
6. Where Would You Expect To See Short Films? (And Where Would You Like To See Them?)
7. What Do You Like and Dislike About Genre Films? (And What Are You Favourite Genres and Films?)

I have analysed my audience research and have found that not many people have seen short films, plus they do not know what a short film is. When I asked them what you think a short film is and they replied with as a time limit of between 30 - 60 mins on average. I then found out that they would actually have an appetite for the short films after speaking. This was constructive. they then went on to tell me that they would like to see them in the cinema but I then asked them, would you actually go out for a day to see a film for 20 mins in the cinema for a price, they changed their mind and said a special website where short films can be viewed for free, but again I offered them depict and you-tube. But then I offered them, would you like to see short films on your preferred networking site, they said yes and said that there should be a section on the sit where people can watch, vote rate and suggest these films which can go up for prizes.

Short Films

I have been watching a variety of different short films for some inspiration for my own and how they are made differently from box office films. The short films I have been watching are Pixar, Desserts, Spin and Offside. All of these films were completely different from each other, in the story itself to the camera work. Like for instance Pixar showed a little comic strip that involved just one scene that could begin and end in 3 minutes with making sense, it was like a funny scene in a film shortened and fastened. The other 3 they showed mystery and red herrings like Desserts that can lead you onto something that there isn’t which would be a good idea to put in a short film. They also showed suspense in all of them, but in Spin it showed a imaginative story line that would hook the viewer until the end like where a DJ controls time to save peoples lives.