Inspiration Week Ideas

Ideas from song lyrics

In my group we already came up with an idea with the use of song lyrics. As we already knew we wanted to base our short film on fashion we looked at lyrics that were about fashion in some way. We looked at lyrics from a song by Lady GaGa called "fashion" these lyrics are about a girl who had to have everything designer and fashion was her passion. From this basic story from the lyrics a story we came up with was about an ordinary working class girl who was saving up her money to buy this expensive designer dress. The story would be told backwards. There will be shown many ways in which she could have got the money to buy the dress but the audience will never find out if she got the money in a good or bad way. As you can see, we didn't copy the story that was being told in the lyrics but we got inspiration from them. http://www.metrolyrics.com/fashion-lyrics-lady-gaga.html

Ideas From Poems

The poem below is a story about fashion but is the opposite of "loving" fashion. When we thought of fashion stories we came up with ideas of people loving fashion, whereas this story opened our eyes and we began to think of stories of people having different opinions of the fashion industry. This poem has a clear narrative which makes it easier to produce a story from it.

"Down Oxford Street I wandered, pensive,
Through shopping malls, quite apprehensive,
While feeling cautious and defensive,
And my face was ashen;

For Womenswear was comprehensive
With ranks of handbags quite extensive -
The frontline of a charm offensive
In service of Fashion.

Their advertising was intensive,
But when plain clothes are so expensive,
It makes me cross and hypertensive -
I hate them with passion"

Inspiration Week: lesson 1

In this lesson we are starting to gather ideas from different sources. By doing this will make it easier for us to come up with an idea and learn different ways in which we can get inspiration. As short films are so broad and there is not a specific length they have to be, it is going to be a lot more difficult coming up with an idea as you can literally do anything.

In this first lesson we came up with ideas as a class as what makes a narrative. Here are the ideas:

• beginning, middle, end.
• fairy-tales from your childhood
  
• books
• fables
• tribal stories
• legends
• myths 
• plots
• characters
• a series of events 
• stories that have been past down through generations
• something we ourselves can make up
• imagination
• deeper meaning
• once upon a time
• cultures

Brief encounters short film festival

Brief encounters celebrates new talent in filmmaking and provides a platform for emerging filmmakers to screen their work. In 2009, over 150 films screened in competition over five days to over 500 delegates and 6,500 members of the audience. The film and animations were a selection of the best new dramas, comedies, music videos, documentaries and animation from over 58 countries. The festival first began in 1995 as Brief-Encounters- originally envisioned as a one off event, to mark the centenary of cinema. It proved so popular that it is now an annual attraction, expanding year to year and is acknowledged internationally is one of the worlds most respected celebrations of short film.
In 2001, the short film festival was joined by Animated Encounters- celebrating and showcasing the productions the productions, talent, creativity, technology and skills that make animation such a popular successful film form worldwide. It, too has had a rapid rise to global prominence, as it is demonstrated by its status as the UK's representative for the prestigious European Cartoon D'Or.

Edinburgh film festival

Edinburgh films festival is an annual fortnight of cinema screenings and events that takes place each June. The festival started in 1947 and is the worlds oldest continually running film festival. There are three ways in which to apply. You can apply through the film festivals website or you can download a form and mail it to them.

Film Categories

Gala - New international feature film productions, having a well-known actor or director
British Gala - New UK feature film productions, having a well-known British actor or director
Rosebud - Feature fiction films from first- or second-time directors, outwith the UK
Directors' Showcase - Highlighting films from accomplished directors
Night Moves - Horror and action films, either from countries whose mainstream films are given little worldwide release, or from independent film-makers
Document - Documentaries, whether feature-length or short
Retrospective - Films by an important director that many people may not have seen on the cinema screen
Black Box - Abstract and artistic films
Mirrorball - Music videos, music-related documentaries
In Person - Live on-stage interviews with important figures from the cinema industry
Under The Radar - Risk-taking films (introduced in 2008 in response to John Waters attending the festival)

REFERENCING http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/

Rights to your short film

There are frequently conditions of entry that become legal requirements for the films entered into certain competitions, particularly if films are to be exhibited online or screened at festivals supported by industry sponsors. The thing to do is to make sure that you retain "artistic property" of your film up to the point where are happy to "sell" this in return for recognition, exhibition or whatever prize is on offer. You'll only be able to distribute and screen your film in public if it is "cleared". This means that you have written permission to use everything and everyone that appears in your film. This includes script, music, locations, actors, contributions, products and company logos. Companies are broadcasters are particularly hot on this area as they are likely to be sued if they show something that has not been approved by all "parties with an interest" in the film.

"It is certainly better to produce a film that has a "good idea", thats executed as effectively as possible and with an impact on its audience" than a more complex film with its energies dissipated. Ultimately, it is the quality of your short film that will be the key determinant in its success. The process of judging "quality" is, however, always going to be highly subjective, so don't be too disenchanted if your film doesn't achieve the recognition it might deserve. You'll have learned so much along the way."

REFERENCING www.mediamagazine.org.uk, Symon Quy

Convergence

Convergences represents things coming together. In this case, it represents different forms of media coming together. The Iphone is a prime example. On an IPhone you can do various things such listen to music, go on the internet, text, plays games all on one device. Another example is the Wii, it is not only a games console, but also a web browser and social networking tool. The point is that one day in future that "you will only need one thing to do everything". Short film has benefited from these convergences because this means that there are a lot more places in which you can watch short films and getting your short films shown in various different ways.

Analyses- "Tea leaves" artists moving image

Matthew Grinter
3 minutes
Artist moving image short

I discovered this short on the BBC film network and found it interesting as it was different to anything i'd come across.

Mise-En-Scene
Unlike "wasp" this short does not have an obvious narrative, and us the audience has to work out whats going on ourselves which may gives us a certain perception of whats happening.
The lighting is quite dull but the things that give the "domino effect" in it seemed to be bright colours. Its as all of the actors in it are just getting on with their daily lifes and it's kind of documenting them all in a coffee shop, especially the man that is trying to get to his "destination" However, the props, which in this case are the objects such as the cups of coffee.

The sound in this short is a mixture between diegetic and non-diegetic. I think the fact that the use of diegetic sound which is the general noises in the coffee shop with the non-diegetic sound mixed in with it (music) is effective. The way that it has obviously been filmed then edited to make it look like its slow motion makes the journey of the man "destined to drink his coffee" more effective and makes it seem like it was more of a struggle. The type of music fits the slow motion camera movements.

Analyses of "Wasp" By Andrea Arnold

Wasp is a 26 minute short film written and directed by Andrea Arnold. Released in 2003 it stars Nathalie Press as a struggling single mother determined not to let her four young children prove an obstacle in the persuit of rekindling a relationship with an old ex boyfriend (Danny Dyre).

Mise-en-scene
The film is set in Dartford which is infact the director Andrea Arnolds hometown. In the first half of the short where you are beginning to find out about the family they are shown in and around the area they live in. Although you can tell she lives on some kind of housing estate the area in which they are living looks nice and decent. I think this enphasises the fact that she is a single mother who is struggling but she isn't looking everything. However, when you then see in the house its a whole other story and is very different to the nice sunny outside we see at the beginning.
The lighting througout is quite grainy although it is bright outside it still gives a very grainy effect. The yellowy lighting is clearly not natural. The use of lighting is extremely effective when the chuldren are sitting outside of the pub as it really enphasises how dirty the children actually are and the grainy effect is stronger that ever.
The childrens clothing is grubby and dirty and she way she brings her baby out without a nappy gives the audience the sense she has no idea, also the fact she goes out in her night dress but then you see a dramatic change when she goes out and the way she dresses gives us a real sense as to what kind of person she is.

Sound
Throughout the film the majority of the sound is diegetic. The baby crying and the music which plays through the pub is the most obvious use of non-diegetic sound. The diegetic sound coming from the pub playing out to the children who are forced to wait outside really gives a sense of neglect and how seperated the children are from their mother.


REFERENCING http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp_(film)

Video Activism

Witness vido or video activism is a common stratedgy used by protest groups. For example, a group of people who protest againt animal testing might pose as workers somewhere where they test against animals, film the evidence and post the evidence on the internet making people more aware of the topic. I recently watched a video activism video on testing against monkeys as was quite shocked as what i saw, this was maybe naive of me as i didn't think this went on as it showed in the video. A popular example of video activism is the wale hunting videos. Animal protesters go to extremes to get videos of the japanese hunting and killing the wales. There are numerous film festivals screening political shorts such as The Freedom Cinema Festivals and Persistance Resistance. Personally, i think that video activisim shorts play a large part in short film as they are everywhere and you can watch one without realising its a short film, it more a "documentry style" of filmmaking.

Avant Garden -The Big Shave- Analyses

1967
Six minutes
Martin Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation and attended New York Univeristy Film School.

This short films starts of extremely innoccent and you begin to wonder why you are just watching a man in his bathroom shaving. When you first him cut himself you assume it was an accident and it goes to being quite innoccent. However, not long after the film suddenly becomes dark and disturbing and we realise he is purposely cutting himself. It then turns into an increasingly bloody and graphic bathroom scene. When i finished watching this short, i just felt as if it was random and slightly strange. However, when we started discussing the film and looking into we came to the conlucsion that because this film was made around the time of the Vietnam war that the film was in some way representing the war. For example, the way the man in the film was cutting himself came across as pointless, just like the war was. I did my own research about this film and actually found out the film was also known as "Viet '67".

Avant-Garde/Experimental film

Experimental films describes a whole range of styles of filmmaking that are completely different to mainstream filmmaking. Experimental covers a wide range of practice, an experimental film is often characterized by the ascence of linear narrative, the use of various abstracting tehcnqiues (out of focus, painting or scratching of film, rapid editing), the use of non-diegetic sound or even the abscence of any sound track. Most films were made on very low budgets, with minimal crew and often made by one person, possibly a student. Short films couldn't keep up with Hollywood and the mainstream style of fimmaking, so Avant-Garde found its own home in cinema as art. However, it has been argued recently that these Avant-Garde and experimental films have become a genre in their own. Avant-Garde filmmakers want to experiment with new ideas, forms, tehcnqiues and expressions. The fimmakers often seemd to be "ahead of their times". Avant-Garde represents a pushing of boundaries.

REFERENCING http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_film