Film-Studies Blogs

Evaluative Analysis Ethan Garvie My original intent for my project is to create a post apocalyptic thriller following the point of view of a young survivor, displaying his own personal thoughts in the wasteland. This will be achieved through a film rather than a screenplay as I believe I am able to work far better through moving image rather than writing a script and a storyboard. I will also be focusing on incorporating 'A narrative which establishes and develops a single character' as my brief. I want to improve upon sequences taken as inspiration from previous short films by using several different lenses (such as my wide lens and 50 mm for my NIKON D3200) and a variety of perspectives such as high shots, low shots, and continuous tracking shots to tell an interesting and mysterious narrative. I will accomplish this by relying on visual storytelling through relevant mise-en-scene such as necessary props and performance of my actors. The story shall focus on a teen...

Final Days of Shooting Coming up to the final days of shooting as well as the end of the film for the first deadline, I have the nightmare sequence, as well as the final escape scene to shoot and edit. I am planning to shoot both of these across two days and not have to reshoot any shots. To achieve this, I am planning the two shoots as carefully as I can with angles, perspectives, and important lines of dialogue.  The nightmare sequence will give context to the reason why Ryan is being haunted and followed by Ella, by seeing him move throughout a dark house and eventually find a room lit with red lighting, showing Ella standing close to a window. The scene will show distorted imagery and quick cuts to other disturbing images to make the viewer feel on edge whilst the nightmare continues. Eventually, after reaching the red room, he will wake up after seeing Ella. The final scene will show Ryan escaping from a zombie threat that will chase him through an ab...

Reshoots Through filming the opening scene and the introduction to the characters, I realised that I would need to come back and reshoot certain scenes or shots. After watching the clips back, I knew that I could experiment more with lighting and different lenses to achieve a far more cinematic look to my final piece. For example, the opening shot of Ryan putting in his earphone has been improved drastically through a single reshoot. The improved shot shows more Bokeh and is more vibrant in colour than the previous shot. I also slowed this clip down to really let the audience take in the shot.  Through further reshoots, my main aim was to make each individual shot flow far better with one another as well as move my perspective to see if I could gain a more professional appearance to the film. These reshoots also offered me the chance to progress the story further, as I am constantly coming up with new ideas throughout shooting, to push the film further until its ...

Filming Dates Wednesday 21st November- Opening Shot Tuesday 27th November- Ryan   Scenes Part 1 of the Chase Scene Escape from the threat by Car Friday 30th November- Ryan  Scenes Exploration Scenes Arriving Home (Boot of Car) Tuesday 4th December- Ella Scenes Map Scene Dialogue before sleeping Friday 7th December- Zombie Scenes Part 2 of Chase Scene Extra Environmental shots with Zombies Tuesday 11th December- Ryan Scenes Waking Up Driving Off Friday 14th December- Ryan/Zombie/Ella Scenes Final Fight Scene Extra Shots if needed Prague (17th-22nd)- Dream Sequence  Locations 21st- HOME 27th- ABANDONED CARE HOME/COUNTRY ROADS 30th- FIELDS/ARBURY 4th- COUNTRY ROADS/ABANDONED CARE HOME 7th- ABANDONED CARE HOME/BRIDGE-FIELDS 11th- ABANDONED CARE HOME/COUNTRY ROADS 14th- ABANDONED CARE HOME

Fragments-Filming Plan Opening-00:20 (1) Infected Scene (Quiet)-000:55 (2) Driving Away-1:45 (3) Scavenging-2:20 (4) Arrives 'home'-2:55 (5) Dream Sequence-03:30 (6) Fight Scene-4:30 (7) Ending-05:00 (8) 1. A slow, steady zoom into either a radio or a TV screen, speaking of/showing an 'event' that brought the world to destruction. This is shown in a pitch black room with either a single spotlight lighting the area, or simply the TV screen switching on allowing for light. 2. Environmental shots followed by the protagonist searching the environment with screams in the distance. This is followed by Ryan finding a zombie that he once knew before the virus spread. 3.  After the character jumps in his car, we see quick close ups of him starting it up and driving away from the location. We see him holding an area of his body that is bleeding, showing how he is in need of bandages/aid. 4. This short sequence slows down the film slightly before speeding...

Fragments-Changes in the Plot So far, there have been a few changes from my original idea for my short film that have been altered/scrapped completely due to casting changes, location changes, and the realisation that they may be too tricky to shoot.  To begin with, I decided to change the person who was playing the main charcater as I knew the originals timetable would not match up with mine. Therefore, making it difficult for us to film for long periods of time. I decided to chnage this to a male character, played by a closer friend who I know I can meet up with far easier. Because of this chnage, I decided to scrap the fight scene I originally planned for the nd if the scene and turned it into more of an escape style scene with a lot of tension through a large, isolated environment. In addition, I was planning to use the original actresses house to film in or by, so the ‘base’ that the Milan character will return to later in the film is less of a home now and more of ...

Important Details Title Ideas ( The underlined words represent the starting word that I’ve branched off from for Title ideas. The bold words represent my favourite choices) Memories — Remnants — Fragments — Echoes Of _______—Before the ________ Zombie —Infected—Infestation— Horde —Scavenger— Alone —Solo—Solus—Isolated—Remains—Last—Outlasted Abandoned — Desolate —Ancient—Haunted Dystopia —Hell—Afterlife—Crisis—Nuclear—Inferno—Atomic— Virus Final Title -Fragments Detailed Flashback Scenes  ( As a larg e portion of the narrative to the film revolves around flashbacks to a world before as well as hallucinations surrounding a lost loved one, these are the draft ideas for what short scenes will take place among the survival-style plot.) Hallucinations   -Several shots of ‘B’ in the opening escape scene (Hidden) -Hidden among other shots through the scavenging and driving sequences. -Only include dialogue once reaching the ‘home’ location a...

Short Film-Advanced Plot (Changing the main character to Jake Worley as my timetable compared to India's does not match up well. This will result in some changes to scenes to suit the film and actor better.) Basic Plot 2 The film opens with either a TV or a radio giving a broadcast of some form of global event. The protagonist (A) can be seen collecting resources before realising there is a zombie nearby. After attempting to sneak out the abandoned building he is in, he can be seen sprinting away from the threat running behind him out of focus. He leaps into his car and speeds away down a long empty road, constantly glancing at his mirrors. He is dazed and confused, and collects resources on his way to a location he doesn't quite remember. During the journey, we see flashbacks of him scavenging and exploring the desolate world, running from other threats. Once home (Sanctuary), he finds bandages to heal his wounds as we view images of the world before whatever ...

Short Film Planning Basic Ideas/Themes Dystopian Setting                                                                                         Genre -Sci-Fi/Thriller Post Apocalyptic world Devoid of human life  Abandoned Strcutures Isolated Filming locations Dark and Emotional storyline Would love to include: -A car chase/stealing scene -A realistic fight scene -Flashbacks of the world before the event (Prague) -An opening which jumps straight into the action + And also doesn't include the character waking up. Basic Plot The protagonist (A) can be seen speeding down a long empty road, constantly glancing at her mirrors. She is dazed and confused, and collects resources on her way to a location she doesn't quite remember. During her ...

Wong Kar-Wei Wong Kar-Wei is a premier auteur of Hong Kong cinema. This auteur is a filmmaker who is able create movies with dazzling images as well as display a clear sense of romanticism. He is well known for his broad ideas while creating experimental films, although wishes not to appear in any of his own films himself. After taking graphic design and a desire to write scripts for action and romantic films, he knew he wanted to become something more at a young age. Now, in his best movies such as Chungking Express and Fallen Angels. In these, his heavy emphasis and focus on unspoken feelings and thoughts gives him his own unique style of telling a narrative. As well as this, his settings, and specific features of his films show his original approach to making interesting stories. For example, in his 2004 film, '2046', Kar-Wei uses a late 1960's setting and adds elements of a sic-fi, futuristic setting which are imagined by the central character....

Silent Film-Evaluation During this project, we chose to make a short, silent film revolving around a basic plot of someone having an item stolen, in a Chaplin style 2 minute film. We attempted to use the editing style of movies such as Sunrise and other Chaplinexamples we have already seen. For example, we included a traditional style of subtitling part way through, as well as altering the shots to black and white. In addition, we sped certain shots up especially toward the end to around 125%, to recreate the way in which movies were played at the time.  Also, we tried to use longer takes toward the start to set up the location, and used elements of silent films we have already seen such as their use of reflections and shadows. This is why we slightly adjusted shadows, highlights, and the contrast of different shots in our editing. During the creation of the short film, we changed the style to become much more up beat, reminiscent of the Chaplin era with elements of comedy...

RISK FADE IN: EXT. OPEN SETTING. MID DAY A teenage boy THROWS a DICE up in the air (Slow Motion) SHOW EMPTY ENVIRONMENT AND MAIN PROTAGONIST BOY V.O. LAYERED DIALOGUE I roll a one I live, I roll a two I die. The dice decides everything. It’s all a game. I live by the dice. The boy is SITTING down on a long grassy patch. He ROLLS the dice in his HAND while LOOKING around the empty setting. EXT. CUT TO THE BOY LISTENING TO MUSIC THROUGH EARPHONES, WHILE A BUSY ROAD CAN BE SEEN IN THE DISTANCE. A CAR SPEEDS PAST, CAUSING THE BOY TO QUICKLY TURN HIS HEAD TO LOOK. BOY V.O. Three and below I follow, four and above I don’t. EXT.THE DICE LANDS ON A ONE AND THE BOY BEGINS TO MOVE AFTER THE CAR-FOLLOWING IT HOME. HE PEERS ROUND A HEDGE AND LOOKS IN EVERY WINDOW OF THE HOUSE TO SEE IF ANYONE IS THERE. ONCE THE DRIVER HAS DISAPPEARED, HE IS READY TO STEAL THE CAR. The boy shifts towards the CAR and crouches down by the SIDE of it near the ...