I have now determind who I will have to play the three main characters in my film.
Ash Caton
Ash is an experienced actor who I have worked with on several previous films, so I know that he is capable of a good and convincing performance. He is very good at portraying different emotions and characters. He is 17 years old, and so perfect for the character of Chris Parks. He looks right for the character, being average height, good looking and he looks quite shy. I think that Ash will be able to portray Chris the right way and he was the best actor that I auditioned for the part, so I have chosen him to take the central role.
Jennifer Austin
Again, I have worked with Jennifer on previous projects and so I know the strengths and weaknesses in her acting ability. She is also 17 years old, with long, dark brown hair and pale skin. I think that this is perfect for the female characters aesthetic. I think that she will be able to be dressed up like Effy Stonem and carry off the look. I will require the character to be sultry and silent whilst still holding the audiences attention. Jennifer played a similar role in another film I produced and so I am confident that she can carry this character well.
Jess Owen
Jess is also a very experienced actor, who again I have worked with before. She is 17 years old, with blonde hair. She is a little shorter than Jennifer and this will add to the juxtaposition of the two characters. She has a naturally bubbly personality and so will be able to fit into the character well. She is very enthusiastic, and knows a lot about film making so is a valuable person to have involved in the production process.
I am confident that these three actors will be professional and will be able to portray the characters in the way needed. I am happy with my choice and believe that they are the best people to act in my film.
I have created a teaser poster for my film using a prop that I plan to use in the footage.
As a working title I have christened my film "Masque," a name developed from "Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe. (See intertextual links for more about the text) I think that this ties in nicely with the white, decorated masks that the cannibals will be wearing (See props).
For the tagline I adapted the tagline from "Alien," In space, no one can hear you scream. I think that my tagline fits in well with the narrative of my film and provides a narrative enigma for the audience. As this is a teaser poster, I don't have to put any more writing than that.
At the bottom of the poster is written a blog address that is different to the this one, http://www.masque-movie.blogspot.com/. This is another blog that I have created. Like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield, I plan to create a fake news blog that would follow the news as though the narrative of my film has actually happened and is being covered by the local news. I feel that this will allow me to think more clearly about the context of the film, and will allow me to create a more realistic product.
The poster shows a hand holding one of the cannibal masks loosely by the side of the leg. This ties into The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan. When one of the central characters is first shown his back is turned to the camera and he holds his mask loosely by his side. As it was this character that originally inspired the masks in my film, I thought that incorporating him into my teaser poster was appropriate.
In the background of my poster is a picture of the Middleton Woods, which is where I plan to film the section of the film that involves the cannibals. This links the masks to the cannibals, and therefore provide anchoarge as to who is standing in the foreground.
I used Photoshop Elements 5.0 to create this poster. I decided to tint the image slightly red in order to signify death, and blood. I think that overall the poster is interesting and will entice the audience into wanting to watch the finished film.
Like last year, I will produce and process my work, including importing, editing and burning, on an iMac computer. Through working with them last year I am confident with this hardware and I feel I know how to use it efficiently to produce a good product. Mac computers are used by many film makers in the industry and so it will give me skills that I may require later.
For the capturing of my footage I will use a standard Sony mini DV camera (Sony DCR-HC27 Handycam Mini DV Camcorder). Again, having used this hardware last year I know that it is reliable and I can use it efficiently to get good quality footage. It is not the highest quality camera, but it is good enough for what I need to do. For further specification about this camera, go to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-DCR-HC27-Handycam-Mini-Camcorder/dp/B000MK0TMM
To go with this camera I will be using a standard mini DV tape. This will allow me to import the footage, including sound, on to the computer without any fuss. It's lightweight and so is easily transportable.
Last year a common problem with all the coursework produced was the sound quality. This year we have access to a boom mic with will help greatly in reducing extraneous noise from weather, traffic and background talking. This will hopefully mean a higher quaality of sound and therefore higher quality of overall product.
In order to keep the camera steady whilst filming I will be using a standard tripod. This will give a more professional finish to the footage that I capture, and will be less distracting for the audience than if the camera was shaky.
For the A2 Coursework task I will be using the following software :-
Unlike the software that I used for my AS coursework, iMovie HD, I will be using Final Cut Express 4 to do the editing of my footage.This is an industry standard programme used in the production of films and television series alike. It is far more advanced than iMovie, and being able to master the skills required will allow me to produce a product of a much higher quality.
Final Cut Express comes with LiveType included, an animated title and motion graphics creation software. Using this will enhance my product and allow me to create a more professional piece. More information about these two programs can be found at http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/specs.html
As I don't have the recording equipment and musicians available to write my own soundtrack, I will create it instead on Garageband. It is very simple to use and can generate both soundtracks and SFX. It has a wide variety of different tracks that can be slotted together to produce a unique sound. Although Garageband only allows the use of pre-recorded tracks, a high-quality, unique and emotive soundtrack can be easily produced.
Alongside the short film that will make up the bulk of my coursework, I shall also be producing several ancillary projects including posters, DVD covers and magazine articles. To do this I shall use Photoshop Elements 5.0. Photoshop will be used to edit and improve images that i will put onto the front covers. It is a perfect programme for amateur photographers, you can edit images from your digital camera or images straight from the internet or your computer. For further specifications visit.. http://reviews.cnet.com/image-editing/adobe-photoshop-elements-4/1707-3634_7-31515402.html
I will use Microsoft office throughout the coursework to produce any presentations that will be required. I will also use it to create the forms that I will require my actors to sign agreeing that they will appear in my film, and also to write up my screenplay.
Once my film has been produced I will use iDVD to burn it on to a disc. This is a very simple program to use, although it can take a long time to code the information before the actual burning and so does require patience. Last year I was able to produce a customised root menu screen on the disc for a film that I produced outside of school, and found that it was easy to reproduce on many different machines (to speed up the production process).
Due to the slightly more sinister content (canilbalism) I have decided that my film should have a BBFC rating of 15. I think that anyone under this age may find the content distressing and disturbing.
According the the BBFC classifcation system, a 15 rating must conform to the following criteria : Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
Imitable Behaviour
Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.
There are other criteria for 15 rated films to meet, but I don't believe that I will have any trouble sticking to them. The above points are relevant to my film and I will have to take them into account in order to be able to use this classification.
Target Audience.
As my BBFC rating is 15, my target audience will be from 15 - 25. I think that the narrative is interesting to all ages, being something that doesn't often come up. The younger end of the audience will be able to relate the the characters, being of a similar age.
In my production there are three main characters, with the rest of the cast just extras.
The female character remains unnamed. She is mysterious and dark. She says very little but when she does speak it is in a sultry voice. She is very attractive and it is easy to see why the central protagonist falls for her. I have mainly based this character on Effy Stonem from the Channel 4 series Skins. I think that this is the ideal look and persona for my female character. Effy is able to control everyone around her just with a look or simple comment, and I think it is this "magical" quality that I would like my female character to have. I would like her to look as similar to this picture of Kristen Stewart as possible, with the dark wavy hair, dark clothes and sultry look. This aesthetic is often seen as being very attractive and mysterious. I think that this would add to the characters appeal to the central protagonist, and would explain why he follows her so readily without explanation.
Again inspired by Skins, the female character will have a chatty friend that people think is a little bit strange. She will be talking to the female character non-stop, not requiring her to say anything at all. She will be dressed unfashionably, but she won't care because she doesn't understand that it's anything wrong. The character in Skins that she will be based on is Pandora. She is never far from Effy's side, and has a quirky way of talking, style of clothing, and an almost endearing ability to get everything wrong.
The central protagonist, Chris Parks, is a fairly nondescript boy of around 17/18 years old. He doesn't belong to any particular social group. He is fairly attractive, but not in a necessarily obvious way. He is quiet and artistic, and so becomes very flustered when the girl pays him attention. His clothing doesn't particularly matter, although it has to be obvious that he does not belong in the same group as the girl. He doesn't have a specific way of dressing, but he doesn't tend to wear dark colours all the time like the girl does.
In order to develop a more thorough understanding of the medium, I watched and analysed some short films. They varied in content and narrative, as well as being a mix of animation and live action. I got them from either YouTube, http://www.futureshorts.com/ or http://www.chewtv.com/. Although I didn't go into thorough, in-depth analysis, I wrote down the main points from each film to get a collaborative idea of the conventions of short films.
Bullet Proof Vest
- Non diegetic narration.
- Talking quite brutally about the truth, doesn't matter about being "PC"
- Tackling the issues, mainly gun violence and its effect on children.
- Contrasts images of children playing with serious and fairly horrific narration.
The Furniture
- One main character that is introduced straight away, no ambiguity.
- Man is seeking reassurance from a doctor, implied mental illness.
- Believes the furniture is trying to kill him, then the twist at the end implies that the furniture did in fact kill him
- Two characters are shown but are both the same person / split personality
- Short credits at the end, very brief
Codes and Conventions
Generally, short films tend to last anywhere between 3 and 15 minutes in length. However, I also found that a film lasting up to 40 minutes can still be defined as a short film rather than a feature length production.
Most short films have very low budgets, if any at all. This means that they are unlikely to contain big-name actors, extensive graphic work or expensive locations, costumes or props. This isn’t universal, however, as some short films have cost around £40,000 to produce.
The music in short films tends to be primarily to build the tension or enhance the mood of the moment. The soundtrack can often last throughout the entire film, although can also last for only a part of it, or be cut up into several sections. Some class music videos as short films in more recent years as they have storylines that fit with the lyrics and more action based videos.
Their storylines are often quirky and unusual as the narrative doesn’t need to be drawn out like a feature length production is. They often have a twist to the ending to introduce a narrative enigma that never gets solved. This is in contrast to blockbuster films that (unless a sequel is planned) have to close the ending of the narrative.
The titles can be at any point during the film, often plain white on black writing. Titles can often be cut up and placed throughout the film in order to break up the different scenes. In horror shorts I found that after a particularly tense part of the action the titles faded in to produce most fear in the audience as they have to imagine what’s coming next.
Due to a lack of budget, many short films are animated. This may mean that they don’t have to include any actors at all, and allows the creator to develop locations and props that would have been expensive to involve when producing a live-action film.
Several short films include voice-overs or monologues, either to voice the central protagonists thoughts and feelings, or to provide a narrative enigma about who is talking.
Mise-en-scene is particularly important in short films as there’s not enough time to develop the character exposition. Therefore setting up the background with objects and pictures that would develop the character quickly is often what short film directors choose to do.
Jennifer Austin
Jess Owen
