Short Film Ideas: 2

Superhero movies are something I've always loved. Since the first "Spider-Man" movie to the more recent nontraditional comedy "Kick-ass", I've always adored and been fascinated by these type of films. Even the more realistic "Hancock" was something I loved.

So why not make a short film about it? I'm experienced in Adobe After Effects enough to edit in VFX, including explosions and gunshots. I can even make it look like somebody is flying and make the ground shatter beneath someones feet. I've sat through hours of tutorials on YouTube  and VideoCopilot to give me the ability to enable a person to have superhuman powers within the realm of film. Though it may take bajillions hours to render... It's entirely possible in the technological aspect. I have access to lots of filming equipment and have a green-screen to utilise if needs be. 

To follow the typical superhero story or to do something less mainstream? That is the question. Though the typical stories that have been told to us over and over again by Marvel and DC comics are great and extremely popular, it all seems a bit over used and would be easily washed over and predictable. For a newer film to be great I believe it should grip the audience and hold their attention by not allowing them to foresee what is to come... Unless it's done in a totally awesome way, like foreshadowing. Not by making them essentially re-watch the same stuff that's regurgitated to them by Hollywood. Ew. 

The restricted length of this project is something I should consider. To tell the story of how one person gets bitten by a radioactive jellyfish, gains the ability to electrify any wrong doers, gets the girl of his dreams to notice him while also fighting the darkness inside himself which was the real enemy all along within the space of about 4 minutes is a hard thing to do. So what can I do? I guess I could create an origin story. The story of how one hero is created and how they grow and develop into a person capable of saving thousands of lives. Although, that is kinda what "Smallville" is... And
it's taken them 11 seasons to show how a baby from space becomes superman. But I could take it from the superhero's point of view as they tell a story, reviewing key chapters of their life, similar to how I planned out 1 idea in my previous post.

An almost serious mockumentary isn't out of the question. I could do it in a style similar to the Japanese film "Big Man Japan". Haven't heard of it? That's because it's not mainstream and totally hipster (I'm clearly a film aficionado). The style of it is essentially a documentary that follows a super hero and reviews points in their and their families lives as well as interviewing them and showing events as they unfold. It's pretty swell. Though I'm not completely comfortable with creating the documentary feeling in film yet, I'm sure it's something I could grasp. 

Or I could abandon the idea of a superhero and simply show the life of someone who has powers. They don't particularly use them to save people, they just come in handy in everyday situations. It could be fun. Although, I do feel like I'd be obliged to have a build up to some event in which they had to save someone. It could be called "Sometimes I'm a Hero". Though I'd totally have to make that title have a double meaning and have the "hero part" come in totally unexpected. Sounds thrilling. I like it. Just as Tom, our unlikely yet completely capable hero is walking out of maths class when... BOOM! The school is under attack by a terrifying 300ft tall landshark! I... I actually really like that idea... Oh no.

 

 -BW

Short Film Ideas: 1

Being the tenacious little film maker, which I am (small being a metaphor, I'm rather tall), I generally get quite a lot of ideas for films. While most of them are neglected and left to nothing in my fragile little mind (I'm not sure if that one was a metaphor), occasionally I get an idea that I focus on and actually follow up on.

When I say "follow up" I mean develop. That doesn't always mean creating a film, it means creating a deeper structure and story for that idea. If I continue to focus on these further, I believe I can come up with a solid idea for a decent short film. And so I've decided that from now on I'm going to be posting these ideas. So you can consider this post the first of, probably, hopefully, maybe, many ideas.

Living in a rural area, I have lots of fields at my disposal. For pure convenience it's worth considering doing a short film in the area. A bonus is that there are usually very little people walking around , as opposed to an urban environment, such as a high street or even my school. However, there are downsides like weather. A windy day can make lots of unwanted noise. And rain or sun can completely change the feel of a shot, from dark and gloomy to bright and happy.

As I've walked around this areas, location scouting, I've taken pictures and partially allocated ideas to them. 

There are a ton of footpaths and trails to utilize. These created the idea of traveling and heading in a directing to an inevitable location. A character could be going somewhere to meet someone or something. As they're walking they're thinking of everything that has happened to them leading up to the inevitable point of climax. It could be interesting to see key points in the characters life play out and see what his they've lead to that character's development. It would also give opportunity for lots of camera angles and the possibilities for the story are practically endless.

With the heavy trees bearing over, entrapment sprang to mind. Again, on a trail meaning there's only 2 clear directions of travel, there could be motivation for traveling in one directing, such as running away from a threat, like a monster or unknown being imposing danger. Of course, the ideas are still endless, so I could instead focus on paranoia, the idea of an imposing force that is not there in reality. Working in the genre of psychological horror is interesting. Creating and building on fears of the anticipated unknown. Fun. 

While strolling along on my adventure into the wilderness, I came across a discarded piece of children's clothing, tattered and scratched, left hanging on a gate. Despite this being a tad bizarre, it did produce an idea.

The idea of a parent losing there child is (what I assume) an extremely scary feeling. The prospect of a child being vulnerable and alone in a dark forest is chilling and would slide nicely into the thriller genre. Whether it's from the viewpoint of the child or parent, a heart pounding thriller could be born. 

As scary it would be to be small and alone in a forest full of horrors created by your imagination, I think that the typical audience for a thriller film would be older and possibly have children, making the character of a parent easier to relate to. However, we've all been a child at one point in our lives, so I wouldn't want to completely erase the idea if a thriller film from a child's viewpoint. 

-BW

Creating a Leaflet in Indesign

Front and back

Adobe Indesign is a program which I found to be completely foreign. With basically no knowledge of what this program did, I was pushed into it and had to learn fast. Layout was something I found baffling, however in the end I was able to create a leaflet which folds inwards, making an image which opens up, similar to double doors.

The leaflet is about the popular film "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World". The film is a personal favourite of mine and so I found easy to base the leaflet around, as I had a good idea of the style of the film.

Inside content

 The leaflet isn't meant to be viewed online, it's supposed to be a handout, which is why there is a margin which would be physically cut out.

-BW

Works in Photoshop

The second famous instalment of this blog is the work I have done in Adobe Photoshop CS4. I was set the task to explore colours, layers, masks, cutting and even typography, as well as other functions used to edit and create masterpieces within the program.
 To the left Is an images I've put together. It's compiled of multiple images of fruit and vegetables, creating a small character. The text gives the image some feeling and makes it look like the draft of a movie poster.
 I edited the character, adding shadows and highlights to give it a more natural and realistic feel.

This work is to help me grasp a better understanding of the program, so that when I come to create a short film, I am able to make a glorious poster to go along side it.

-BW

Short Films

Welcome to my new, fancy and rather dashing A2 Media blog! This year I will be looking at the magic that is "short film"! Exciting, right? Well, so far in my ventures into this new topic I have already taken part in the making of one short film "Bejuan: In the UK", a mockumentary style piece to explore this new found world.

Bejuan:In the UK

While making this film, I found that working within the comedy genre is difficult. This is because people's humour differs tremendously, meaning what I find hilarious, others may not find so funny. When showing this to an audience, I found that there were some laughs, but sadly not as much as I had hoped. On the plus side, however, it's clear that I have learnt from this experience.

From what I currently know, short films are films that are under the duration of 40 minutes. This is challenging, as in that time it seems that there's a lot of ground that should be covered in such a small space of time. At the same time though, I imagine that the work is not as strenuous as in a feature length film. Having said this, I believe that there should still be maximum effort put into making any serious film.

-BW