Post 8; Script workshop 1

For our coursework we have been given the task of producing a short film. As a group we decided to continue with our opening from AS as we were really happy with the outcome and had come up with an original idea of focusing on sexual grooming.

We took our original script and used it as a starting point and worked out what we wanted to happen in the film. We each took responsibility for writing certain scenes, this worked well as it meant we got to put our own ideas into it, it also meant that we got the first draft done quicker than if we had all done all of it, leaving more time to redo it and make it better. We then sat and read through what we had so far, making suggestions and pointing out errors and mistakes which were inevitable.

Having all our different scenes together we were then able to discuss the characters and how they should be portrayed. We decided that Alan should be shown as a caring father and that the audience should be confused about whether he is grooming Sophie or if it's her imagination or even Alan’s imagination as the story would be told from his point of view.

When we were near completion we sent a copy of our script off to a BBC script writer, Dudi Appleton who is the writer for programmes such as silent witness. He read our script and sent back useful feedback which we will use to continue improving it.

Feedback from script writer- Dudi Appleton

This is a very well written script. It is very good indeed. CONGRATULATIONS!!! Here are some thoughts to make it excellent.

One line reviews – UP – A fatherless child finding a father and a childless man finding a child.

At the moment if one were to write a one line review it would read ‘A father seduces a friend of his daughters and gets caught.’

This doesn’t ask a lot of questions. As it stands it is more of an anecdote rather than a story (told in a linear fashion ie first this happened, then this, then that).

What is your script telling us? How is your script enlightening us? What is the expectation you are setting up with the audience?

For example the audience might be lead to believe it’s a story about sex, but it is really about power.

Try and tell the story so it is more compelling and put the story into the context of a genre. The story needs to be told in an unexpected way.

Somebody has to do something different to what we expect.

For example – in the feature film Hard Candy- what you thought was the story wasn’t (genre- thriller).

For example the dad is completely innocent. This would work if the dad’s role was more subtle. Sophie is the aggressor- but the audience are in the shoes of Sophie.

At the moment the ending doesn’t add anything.

No ending- it could simply be in a look eg between Sophie and the father or Sophie and Paige- this would ask more questions.

Also at this point we got three of our friends to sit and read through the script as if they were the actors in the film. We did this to ascertain its strengths and weaknesses before moving on with the next draft so we could work on improving them.

Over all as a group I think we worked well and as a result our script will be reflection of this.

Post 7; Researching Short Films and their use of editing

I decided to analyse a short film in order to see what kind of editing is used to create the most effective story line. It is also so I can develop a better understanding of the use of editing techniques that other short film makers use.

The short film I decided to analyse was Gunslingers by Regan Hall

The film is about' a young farmer fights to save the woman he loves from the grip of a jealous outsider'.


The use of editing in Gunslingers is quite interesting, hard cuts are frequently used through out the film with only a couple of dissolves to differ from them. The hard cuts are used to build the tension as the film progresses, this works very well when the two men are facing each other and are about to draw their pistols. The dissolves are also placed well as they are used when the woman in on screen and it is cut to another shot. The editing helps create the characters and their roles in the film, the soft dissolves show that the woman is helpless and kind while the hard cuts show the strength and power of the men.


I found this short film on the BBC Film Network
This link goes directly to the short film, Gunslingers.

Post 6: Media Language - Editing

Editing is a huge part of film making as well as media language. It is the process of going through captured footage and putting it together to form a scene or sequence. Films are judged on their editing, even if the audience doesn’t realise it. To make sure our film is as good as it can be we have researched different editing techniques with the intention of using a few of them to show our editing skills.

Kuleshov effect:

The Kuleshov Effect is a well-documented concept in film-making, discovered by Soviet film editor Lev Kuleshov in the 1920s. Kuleshov put a film together, showing the expression of an actor, edited together with a plate of soup, a dead woman, and a woman on a recliner. Audiences praised the subtle acting, showing an almost imperceptible expression of hunger, grief, or lust in turn. The reality, of course, is that the same clip of the actor's face was re-used, and the effect is created entirely by its superimposition with other images.
 Here is our groups first attempt at the Kuleshov effect: Kuleshov

 

Montage:

Montage literally translated from French is assembly, the process by which an editor takes two pieces of film of tape and combines them to emphasise their meaning. It is a method by which through two unrelated shots we may create a third and different meaning.

Here is an example of a montage from Battleship Potemkin.

As a group we where very interested in using a montage in our film to show the progression of time and the growing relationship between the characters.

Edwin Porter:

Edwin Porter was an early film pioneer and after his death is remembered as an important figure in motion picture history. As an early film maker he took ideas from others but instead of copping them tried to improve on what they had already achieved. In his film 'The Great Train Robbery', Porter used new and previously unseen editing techniques such as jump cuts, cross cutting and panning shots.

Here is an example of transparency editing from Slavko Vorkapich’s 1934 film The Furies

French New Wave:

The New Wave was a term coined by critics for a group of French filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s who were influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. Although never a formally organized movement, the New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of the literary period pieces being made in France and written by novelists. They had a desire to shoot more current social issues on location, and their intention of experimenting with the film form. Some of the filming techniques within the new French Wave were natural lighting, the sharp contrast between black and white, alternative framing and the release of the camera from the tripod.