bellerbysmedia
Done With Pre-Production!!!
1.03.11
Day 20
Hi folks!!!
So, finally I want to congratulate my team with the end of pre-production. As it turned out, making a film is a very long and complex process. Everything that seemed so easy, in fact, was quite difficult to do. The most important thing was to organize a group, to see to all work was done on time. As it has shown, you must have nerves of steel when you are creating a movie. Moreover, when you take a great responsibility, it is not so simple to control yourself. But In my opinion, our team has coped with its task perfectly. Thanks Kate and Tinya, who helped with the casting, and coped with the camera and editing. Also I would like to thank Tito, who helped with the cast as well as with writing the script. Pre-production was not only an excellent start for our film, but also helped us to feel united as a whole.
Our chief task was to create short film about 3-5 minutes. Our term was devised into three stages: Pre-production, Production and Post-production. Our pre-production task was to think about narrative( which is the story of a movie), write a screenplay, draw storyboard, find the actors, make a storyboard animation and write shooting schedule. I haven't written on flickr before about our narrative, that is why I would like to introduce our story to you, guys!
Our narrative was written by me and Kate. Straightly away I brought out that I wanted to film a movie about social issue that people face every day. As it is quite difficult to try to affect the audience and to cause emotions and strike in 5 minutes. We discussed many issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, reckless driving, etc. But it was too corny to film a movie about such things, as nowadays there are a lot of social ads about these particular topics. We wanted something more realistic. Then we had an idea to film about the problems between generations. Because at the moment all the members of my group face with this terrible problem: sometimes we do not find common ground with our parents, there are amount of conflicts, we quarrel and hurt each other. Plus the fact that we are away from home forced to remember our relatives and to reflect on our relationship. Because of these thoughts , the main idea for our film was the question of "what if we cease to care about each other?"
Drama is a perfect genre for our movie. We initially doubted between social advertising and drama, but after long discussion, came to conclusion that the idea of the film is very tragic, so the codes , which are usually used in drama genre, will be useful in our film. But to create a good drama, which would make people worry, it was necessary to review a considerable number of films of this genre to find what direction we should go. We watched everything: traditional Hollywood, independent american, french movies ( Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Forrest Gump, Leon, Pianist, Titanic, Awakenings, Dreamers, Rain Man, Black Swan, Cast away, Cidade de Deus, American Beauty, etc.) which made think us about codes and conventions we should use in our movie. We decided to use dark lightening in our movie in order to create nerve-racking atmosphere, emotionalб, grievous soundtracks to highlight the tragedy of the narrative, and other visual, technical and language codes which are usually used in this genre. Also, we decided, that our characters should face as much life problems as they can, e.g. mother`s alcohol addiction, smoking, etc. Moreover, we decided to use establishing shots in order establish the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects (long shots). Also, we decided to use non-linear narrative and will add flashbacks, as it adds some interest to our movie story. Simple sequence may overwhelm the audience, make the film boring, monotonous and rustic
Our group decided to film an Independent movie, as we do not have limited budget, not enough sources to fin in Hollywood style. Moreover the main concept of Hollywood movie is commerce, but we care much more about the reaction of people on this issue. The bright examples, we have watched to understand and know more about this style, are "Lost in Translation" and "Before/After The Sunset" in two parts. These movies are more calculated on the experience and understanding of people, rather than the immense amount of action and special effects.
Now, I would like to say a bit about the target audience of our movie. Our film will target audience which is older than 15 according to The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), as a problem of violence, smoking and alcohol abuse are faced in our movie. Furthermore, from the first sight the movie can be called feminine, but this is not true, as we are trying to represent the interests of all members of society, doesn't matter who they are: females or males.
AND NOW I AM GOING TO INTRODUCE OUR CIRCULAR NARRATIVE
Ideology: remember that you were young once yourself.
Roles:
1)D1-Daughter
2)M1 – Mother of D1
3)D2-Daughter (Mother in the past the same age as the daughter-D1)
4)M2-Mother of D2 (of mothers age)
Nowadays
D1 gets up in the morning and preparing for the school. M1 don’t like the way she dresses. They quarrel and M1 slaps her in the face. The girl goes off into hysterics and run away to school. In the class the teacher criticizes her careless studying and summons her mother to school. The D1 runs out into the street, crying.
At the same time M1, who is regretting of her behaviour, remembers the story of her childhood.
Flashback ( recollection)
D2 is coming back home. M2 becomes angry as she came home too late (what is not true) and that D2 communicates with people, the M2 doesn’t like. D2 is answers quite rudely and runs away to her room, closing the door and shouting that she will never be like mother!!!
Nowadays
The girl (D1) is crossing the road and she hears her mobile phone ringing. She is trying to find her cell phone in her bag and she is hit by car. The mobile phone is lying on the asphalt, mother is calling.
M1 come rushing in hospital and asks a woman at reception where her daughter is. The receptionist is calling somebody, and then a doctor meets M1 and explain her something. After that the mothers legs become weak in the knees and she falls down and utters a scream.
The END
PLANS
And now I want to remind all our group that tomorrow it is our first day of shooting. As it is indicated in the picture of shooting schedule on top s, tomorrow we are shooting a scene in class with brilliant actors Tisha and Rupert Dick. I want to wish us good luck, patience and skills!
TOMORROW CREW
Me - director, lightening
Kate - operator, lightening
Tinya - operator, soundmaker
Tito - marker, soundmaker
See you, guys!!!
Yours,
Sonya
Done With Pre-Production!!!
1.03.11
Day 20
Hi folks!!!
So, finally I want to congratulate my team with the end of pre-production. As it turned out, making a film is a very long and complex process. Everything that seemed so easy, in fact, was quite difficult to do. The most important thing was to organize a group, to see to all work was done on time. As it has shown, you must have nerves of steel when you are creating a movie. Moreover, when you take a great responsibility, it is not so simple to control yourself. But In my opinion, our team has coped with its task perfectly. Thanks Kate and Tinya, who helped with the casting, and coped with the camera and editing. Also I would like to thank Tito, who helped with the cast as well as with writing the script. Pre-production was not only an excellent start for our film, but also helped us to feel united as a whole.
Our chief task was to create short film about 3-5 minutes. Our term was devised into three stages: Pre-production, Production and Post-production. Our pre-production task was to think about narrative( which is the story of a movie), write a screenplay, draw storyboard, find the actors, make a storyboard animation and write shooting schedule. I haven't written on flickr before about our narrative, that is why I would like to introduce our story to you, guys!
Our narrative was written by me and Kate. Straightly away I brought out that I wanted to film a movie about social issue that people face every day. As it is quite difficult to try to affect the audience and to cause emotions and strike in 5 minutes. We discussed many issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, reckless driving, etc. But it was too corny to film a movie about such things, as nowadays there are a lot of social ads about these particular topics. We wanted something more realistic. Then we had an idea to film about the problems between generations. Because at the moment all the members of my group face with this terrible problem: sometimes we do not find common ground with our parents, there are amount of conflicts, we quarrel and hurt each other. Plus the fact that we are away from home forced to remember our relatives and to reflect on our relationship. Because of these thoughts , the main idea for our film was the question of "what if we cease to care about each other?"
Drama is a perfect genre for our movie. We initially doubted between social advertising and drama, but after long discussion, came to conclusion that the idea of the film is very tragic, so the codes , which are usually used in drama genre, will be useful in our film. But to create a good drama, which would make people worry, it was necessary to review a considerable number of films of this genre to find what direction we should go. We watched everything: traditional Hollywood, independent american, french movies ( Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Forrest Gump, Leon, Pianist, Titanic, Awakenings, Dreamers, Rain Man, Black Swan, Cast away, Cidade de Deus, American Beauty, etc.) which made think us about codes and conventions we should use in our movie. We decided to use dark lightening in our movie in order to create nerve-racking atmosphere, emotionalб, grievous soundtracks to highlight the tragedy of the narrative, and other visual, technical and language codes which are usually used in this genre. Also, we decided, that our characters should face as much life problems as they can, e.g. mother`s alcohol addiction, smoking, etc. Moreover, we decided to use establishing shots in order establish the context for a scene by showing the relationship between its important figures and objects (long shots). Also, we decided to use non-linear narrative and will add flashbacks, as it adds some interest to our movie story. Simple sequence may overwhelm the audience, make the film boring, monotonous and rustic
Our group decided to film an Independent movie, as we do not have limited budget, not enough sources to fin in Hollywood style. Moreover the main concept of Hollywood movie is commerce, but we care much more about the reaction of people on this issue. The bright examples, we have watched to understand and know more about this style, are "Lost in Translation" and "Before/After The Sunset" in two parts. These movies are more calculated on the experience and understanding of people, rather than the immense amount of action and special effects.
Now, I would like to say a bit about the target audience of our movie. Our film will target audience which is older than 15 according to The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), as a problem of violence, smoking and alcohol abuse are faced in our movie. Furthermore, from the first sight the movie can be called feminine, but this is not true, as we are trying to represent the interests of all members of society, doesn't matter who they are: females or males.
AND NOW I AM GOING TO INTRODUCE OUR CIRCULAR NARRATIVE
Ideology: remember that you were young once yourself.
Roles:
1)D1-Daughter
2)M1 – Mother of D1
3)D2-Daughter (Mother in the past the same age as the daughter-D1)
4)M2-Mother of D2 (of mothers age)
Nowadays
D1 gets up in the morning and preparing for the school. M1 don’t like the way she dresses. They quarrel and M1 slaps her in the face. The girl goes off into hysterics and run away to school. In the class the teacher criticizes her careless studying and summons her mother to school. The D1 runs out into the street, crying.
At the same time M1, who is regretting of her behaviour, remembers the story of her childhood.
Flashback ( recollection)
D2 is coming back home. M2 becomes angry as she came home too late (what is not true) and that D2 communicates with people, the M2 doesn’t like. D2 is answers quite rudely and runs away to her room, closing the door and shouting that she will never be like mother!!!
Nowadays
The girl (D1) is crossing the road and she hears her mobile phone ringing. She is trying to find her cell phone in her bag and she is hit by car. The mobile phone is lying on the asphalt, mother is calling.
M1 come rushing in hospital and asks a woman at reception where her daughter is. The receptionist is calling somebody, and then a doctor meets M1 and explain her something. After that the mothers legs become weak in the knees and she falls down and utters a scream.
The END
PLANS
And now I want to remind all our group that tomorrow it is our first day of shooting. As it is indicated in the picture of shooting schedule on top s, tomorrow we are shooting a scene in class with brilliant actors Tisha and Rupert Dick. I want to wish us good luck, patience and skills!
TOMORROW CREW
Me - director, lightening
Kate - operator, lightening
Tinya - operator, soundmaker
Tito - marker, soundmaker
See you, guys!!!
Yours,
Sonya