Short Film - Central Motif

I have decided to base the film around the motif of doors opening and closing and explore this through the eyes of a group of teenagers as they go between secondary school and look to the future towards university and their possible careers.

Various transitions
- lots of moving between rooms - opening of doors
- opening of drinks
- the opening of the fridge 

These various transitions will often be inter scene or open scenes giving a sense of constant movement which, when coupled with the use of tracking shots will add a feeling of movement throughout the scenes

Short Film Analysis - What Lies Ahead

Short Film Analysis - What Lies Ahead

Camerawork
While the camerawork is competent a major issue is the lack of any kind of establishing shot for the environment that the party takes in that could have been achieved by not immediately starting the scene in a mid shot of the two people featured in the scene instead it would have been more effective to slowly bring the camera into the scene as this would give the audience a greater deal of information about the environment that the film takes place in

Sound
A definite strength of this film is the soundtrack that is used throughout the film in particular at the beginning and at the end of the film

Narrative
This film shares a setting and a general theme with the piece I would like to create as it focuses on people who are about to leave high school (sixth form in UK) and go on to bigger things. In addition to this it is centred around a party scene and this has given me some good insights into how to film party scenes and what is required to make the scenes come alive and not seem like there is no on else in the room

Other

Magazine Analysis - Comparison of Review Pages

Comparison of Three Double Page Review Spreads

Double Page Spread From   BFI Sight and Sound
Issue - 26/10

-    Review of The Girl With The Gifts

Main Text
The main body to text is actually quite explicit when it comes to the narrative of the piece and does not hold back on spoilers for a large amount of the narrative. The focus of the piece is also far broader than usual reviews rather than just focusing on performances of the key stars of the piece as a more mainstream product would do. Instead the focus of the reviews focus varies from the general plot of the film to the actors performances to the technical background of the film such as the director who headed up the film. compared to other double page spreads there is significantly more text than usual

The piece also approaches the text in a similar way to a piece of literature as shown through the large picked out quote of "This is not a zombie movie in the traditional sense, but visceral, intelligent horror inspired by our own increasingly fragile grip on the world" which clearly shows the piece taking a wider view on the impact of a piece like this.
Images
They are fairly large and focus on the primary members of the cast a give a very good impression of the artistic direction of the film and the general tone that the piece takes. The are placed at different points on the page and are of different sizes one is quite small and so requires more attention in a similar way to the smaller text size of the main body of text.

Ratings
The lack of any kind of ratings scale is unusual for a fairly mainstream production and this has the impact of making the reader focus on the review page as a whole rather than just skim reading the score section. This suggests that their fanbase is more engaged with film as a medium and is more willing to engage with it.

Other
Instead of a regular score section this production instead uses this space to include a credits and synopsis section again showing the magazines more technical focus.

Double Page Spread From Little White Lies
Issue - 65
Review of Everybody Wants Some


Main Text

Images
They take up one whole page of the two page spread and are principally character shots of the actors in the scenes. They effectively convey the era in which the film takes place which is important in understanding the film being reviewed

Ratings
Uses Three Different sections: Anticipation, Enjoyment, In Retrospect. Each section is marked out of five and a brief description is given to justify the score for each section. This is often better than the standard single rating as it allows for more granularity in the review which is useful

In addition to this the magazine makes use of a "seal of approval" to highlight specific films that they would definitely recommend.

Other

Small section of credits which suggests a focus on the actors and directors rather than the surrounding technology or production 

Double Page Spread From Total Film
Issue - 163
Review of Up in the Air


Main Text
Focuses principally of the actor which indicates a focus on celebrity but this is fairly understandable considering the type of film.

Focus on the action little bit of direction

Images
Large single picture takes up half the spread with focus on Clooney

Ratings
Prominent in top third of piece which draws audience attention this rating scale is explained as this is the first review in the section but also suggests a more casual audience who do not religiously follow the magazine.

Simple start system is decent but lacks detail

This is backed up by the in short section which suggests that the readers often read this magazine rather quickly and do not often read the entire article

Other

fun little graphic of enjoyment

the see this if you liked section suggests an audience of avid film watchers but one that focuses on more mainstream films

Script Notes 1

I want to make several changes to the version of the script that I recently posted

Firstly I need to write some concrete dialogue for the beginning of the scene between Sam and an unnamed friend character. This is designed to clue the audience into Sam's intentions in the piece as it will make it clear that she is looking for Danny it also makes the party seem bigger than it actually is which is a definite plus.

Secondly I don't like the argument that I have written between Danny and Sam. I think it might be either due to the length of it as it is very short or the fact that the text just doesn't convey the correct level of emotion that the characters would be feeling at the time and this would mean that the scene would either feel odd or would just feel that it hadn't been earned as the scene hadn't reached an emotional climax and so the audience won't connect with the audience

Finally there a few lines says Danny's "Yeah that was my exact reaction" which don't quite work with the characters either because they sound too formal or because they almost sound too flippant and this could harm the tone of the piece. In addition to this I will have to be careful with length  when adding new dialogue as I would rather not have to cut the script down at a later date as this would just mean I had wasted some time

Short Film - Script (Dialogue Choices)

Sorkin 

- Begin the scene with a statistic

- Fast paced dialogue 

- Misunderstandings

However this is often fairly unrealistic as the in people in the  scenes often speak very quickly in an unnatural which while engaging does somewhat remove the viewer from the characters. In order to counter this I could use longer pieces of monologue to break it up or use longer pauses in between dialogue to add an element of realism back into the speech patterns of those conversing

Script V1

Poster Analysis - Split

Split Poster Analysis

Text

-       Director has a following and so his name is featured prominently in the  poster

-       Underneath main title text builds suspence and intrigue due

-       Fragmented text used to mirror mental state of main character and contrasts against the other text in the poster that uses a vary basic font

-       Shown to clearly  be a thriller so is clearly attempting to capture that audience demographic

-       Lack of main actor lists suggests limited cast and is also means poster relies on the recognition of James Mcavoy

Colour

-       Monotone except for actors face which draws attention to him clearly showing presence of known star

-       Date is in different colour which draws attention to it

Imagery

-       Contrast created between three normal shadows – which clearly represent other personalities and the fourth much larger and aggressive shadow

-       This aggression is created through the present of his arms

-       The angle of these shadows draws the attention of the viewer to both the lead actor and the date of release

-       Female silhouette of shadow again adds intrigue for his multiple personalities

A single intertextual reference is made in the poster through the focus on the name of the director M. Night Shyamalan.

The colour scheme for the poster is for the most part monochromatic with the

The supernatural element of the film is immediately apparent to the viewer of the poster

Viewer reaction of fear created through shadows and lighting on main character