PRODUCTION
STATEMENTS
INTENTION
I intend for my production to be accomplished in the form of a 10 to 15 minute long short film with a 3-Act Structure in the intent to tell a narrative in a school with a few students within a local basketball league and if they lose their next game, then the league is shutting down which acts as the external and internal stakes for the film. I intend to have a cast over a hundred. I will use multiple locations that fit within the desired narrative.
NARRATIVE
My narrative will be told through a character called Max, a student who is attempting to prove to others his expertise at basketball and his ability to lead. But is constantly challenged by his internal conflicts, a feeling of loss and detachment from the death of his mother, which is ever only implicitly told to the audience by his bursts of memory, seeping into his own reality, but Max distracts himself from this loss by instead burying it deep within himself, never confronting it. Max’s development is subverted in the second act, when the audience is informed that winning this basketball game will fulfill his deep seeded anxieties and depression. But once he wins the game and feels the energy of the crowd, he begins to feel this detachment amplify as he looks around at the crowd noticing his mother is still gone, and this game didn’t repair him, it wounded him deeply, making all of his anxieties and fears transparent. But Sam, his best friend who is also deaf acts as Max’s anchor keeps him from falling into his depression and anxieties. Sam acts as his needs, and the basketball game acts as Max’s wants.
So the core message of the story is not to let your past become your future.
GENRE AND STYLE
The genre of my narrative would be defined commonly as a drama, although it is situated within a school and a sport, the core themes of the story is friendship and depression. The style of the film would be heavily built off camera and editing. With the camera, I want to have the camera to feel personal, but still and controlled. Use a lot of various movements such as static, tracking and push in/outs as each (with the exception of static) immerse the audience into the characters to a personal level. The static is meant to accentuate the opposite of that, to feel more disconnected to the characters and feel further away.
AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
My narratives intended audience is focused on the high-school students demographic, primarily those who are aged around 16-18. The film isn’t restricted to any gender or race, the message and narrative of the story can be told to anyone who is suffering through school as it could be relatable to students, not genders or races. Its secondary audience would be individuals in art festivals and has a older demographic. To stand out to an older generation although relating a younger demographic, the film will achieve its secondary viewers through appreciation of art, that from cinematography, acting, lighting, etc.
From the four interviews I did for my audience research. I gathered that each individual has different tastes in genres and tone but all have a mediocre response to school dramas, but most mentioned there are several that were memorable. From what I’ve learnt, I need to implement the research I gathered from the audience reviews and keep it from feeling stale and corny.
TREATMENT
Film : ‘Friends and Plenty’ | Name : Introduction | Scene : 1 | Act 1
The Narrative starts off with our main protagonist ‘Max’ a dynamic character who walks into a dark empty indoor basketball gym, symbolic of his internal conflicts constructed by an extreme wide shot (EWS) to make him appear so little compared to his own thoughts and later foreshadowed intentions. It then cuts to a few close ups (CU) onto to symbolise the beginning of a journey, or otherwise a film. Cuts back to a EWS and then to a few medium shots (MS) and CU’s. This is followed by a tracking movement on both Max, the protagonist and the ball positioning the audience with Max, as if the audience is now a part of Max’s journey, literally and symbolically. Once he shoots a shot into the hoop, the music overlapping the scene hammers in while it cuts a wide shot (WS) with Max in the centre of the frame while the rest of the frame shoots into his own imagination of a crowd from a 3rd Point perspective, as if we just entered his mind. But the camera does a full arc shot around him, first drawing into him and his expression and then widens back out when we do a full 360 around Max. and as he does that, the lights fade and so does his imaginative crowd. Cuts to Title card.
Name : School Class + Sam Intro | Scene : 2 | Act 1
Once cut away from the title card we start with a WS of the classroom and Max in the right of the frame with his best friend Sam sitting in the left of the frame. While the audio is of the classroom and the teacher, we mainly here the sound of pencil on paper, as if we are hearing what Max is hearing while the camera slowly moves into Max, it cuts to an extreme close up, or commonly called an insert shot of Max drawing on his paper, establishing Max’s lack of care and awareness as the audience soon realises he should be assisting his deaf friend as he knows sign language, instead is too caught up in himself, locking everything out. Once the teacher gets his attention, after several attempts at calling his name, he looks up and gets slightly mocked for being unable to hear the teacher, the class and Max have a laugh. Within this scene, we cut from 3 people’s perspectives, firstly on Max, then the class/teacher and finally on Sam which is all accomplished by the positioning of the camera and the sound differences and focuses.
Name : Coach Conversation with Team | Scene : 3 | Act 1
We cut from the class to another slow pull in establishing EWS. This informs the audience firstly, we are not viewing the scene from Max but more importantly, the team, it also establishes the court we come back to nearing the 3rd act and slowly pulls us to communicate that something important is going to be shown/developed. The point of this scene is to be more or less an explanation of the plot, stakes and conflicts (exposition). It also introduces us to our flat side characters that help develop Sam and Max but also add comedy and restrain from a narrative that feels forced or fake. This scene usually will do multiple, shot reverse shots when each character is acting or reacting.
Name : Brawl and Black Eye | Scene : 4 | Act 1
Using a J-cut, I fluently cut from one scene to the next where our protagonist and his team come face to face with their opposing team as they stride in confidently with Hamish, their sports captain belittling the other team and threatening to take the gym from them and so Dennis, a player on Max’s team stands up against Hamish, clashing with one another until Hamish loses interest in him and realises who their captain is and targets him. Using a shaky handheld movement highlights the
unpredictability of Hamish and so adding tension and suspense as you’re not sure of what his next action may be. Hamish throws a sing at him and immediately Sam comes running at Hamish tackling Hamish down. Hamish’s teammates pull away from the fight, so does Connor, Max and Sam’s friend who stays uninvolved for most of the situation. This first interaction serves as a reason for the audience to dislike the other team for their childish actions, further gaining the audience’s attention and interest of the characters and so, the stakes involved in losing. Transition from the Gym to Max’s house by Hamish closing the gym’s doors, to Max closing his own door. This also symbolises that both Max and Hamish aren’t all that different, further foreshadowing Max’s flaws becoming his downfall. I use a EWS to capture both Max and his father from the outside of the house, accentuating the disconnection Max has to his father. Max drops his phone on the ground and while reaching down to grab it, it cuts to a point of view shot on Max and him imagining his mother sitting next to his father watching tv. But then cuts back to reality when the camera cuts back to his face and the reality.
Name : Unexpected Ally | Scene : 5 | Act 2
Max hears a knock on the door with a boom movement that follows Max up from the ground from before, reaching to his phone. It cuts to outside with Max opening the door, then it reveals who the two are standing outside the door, Sam and a familiar face, who in which is a player on the opposition, on Hamish’s team, his name is Fletcher. There’s a short converse between the three with some medium shot reverse shots until Max allows them to come in. They sit in a lightly dim room on two separate couches. Fletcher explains he wants to help as he is cousins with a player called Charlie, who is on Max’s team. And so, Fletcher helps by explaining each of his teammate’s strengths with it cutting to his team with Fletchers narration.
Name :Team Rally + Montage | Scene : 6 | Act 2
It transitions from scene 4 with it showing the passage of time through a window when it cuts to the day, with the use of a static shot and Max walking into the foreground with him being out of focus, and him waiting for Connor to arrive. It cuts to an empty table which then a bag of McDonalds enters the frame and stays there for a while. It then booms up to reveal Connor and then him pulling all the food out onto a plate. Dennis walks by and snatches a chip which aggravates Connor. After some dialogue between the team hatching a plan, it transitions to a montage with a J-cut of non-diegetic instrumental drums. This montage uses an array of several camera techniques and movements to express their commitment and training to pull off a win for themselves. At the end has Max screaming “we got this team”.
Name : Basketball Game | Scene : 7 | Act 2
It uses a J-cut of a cheering crowd to transition from scene 6 and onto scene 7 which is located in the gym with a large audience. It establishes the crowd with a slow panning WS and onto the gym doors in which we see Hamish’s team walk in. It cuts back to the team sitting on the bench with the coach reassuring that they have a play and the coach follows along. We cut to the tip off with Max and Fletcher where the camera tilts up following the ball getting thrown up and follow where the ball goes after Max hits it over to Connor. For a minute, the audience is given snippets of different individuals scoring and having a CU on the scoreboard, establishing who is currently winning. The scene cuts to Dom who is currently sitting off and sometimes enters his perspective when he is learning something. For example, he learns that Sam is death when Max does some sign language over to him with the use of several fast CU’s, Dom also learns that Fletcher is helping their team when Fletcher messes a goal and both Fletcher and Max smile at one another. But what changes the
game is when Dom figures out, they are playing differently to their normal strengths after Max goes against his plan and forgets to hide his skill at dribbling the ball with this long tracking shot, from one side of the basketball court to the other. Once the first half ends, Dom sits up firstly asking Fletcher to hop off for the second half and smirks over Max with some witty dialogue from Dom explaining he understands and acknowledges what their plan is and uses that against them. Max and Dom go off in the tip off but when the ball is thrown up, Dom doesn’t jump, instead he waits for Max to hit it to someone. With a quick 20-30 second montage, it brings the game to a tie with 10 seconds left, Max starting with the ball but instead running with the ball, passes the ball instantly over to the player closest, being Dennis, who passes it to Connor, onto Sam, back over to Max who then throws it to Charlie in the Key with him scoring the goal for them to win as the buzzer goes off, winning the game and being the first defeat for Hamish’s team. Crowd goes crazy with Max, firstly with happiness; they succeeded and won but then once he looks over to an empty seat in the gym, Max is sent into a flashback with his mother sitting on a bench. Max begins to feel this emptiness, and the scene ends with the music disappearing and all sounds and visuals slowly fade.
Name : Internal Conflict + Finale | Scene : 8 | Act 3
All music stops, fades to black and all we are left with is silence, the basketball game is over, and Act 3 has initiated. It stays on black, but a sound begins to grow, it’s the sound of Max’s mother, but only from a recording he is watching as the frame begins to fade away from black and onto a CU of the camera, he’s holding with him and his mother when Max was young playing basketball, until he hears something down the corridor and the camera tilts up with Max. It cuts to WS in the corridor of Max’s house, it has a grainy warm look to it, a child runs out from a door on the right and into the left with a mother chasing after. It all fades away in front of Max, but the camera still lingers in the corridor watching Max struggle with his past and stays static, unmoving to accentuate Max is stuck in the past and is struggling to move on. It cuts to a different corridor on Sam, all noise is muffled or cut out while he is playing with a small basketball hoop within his own house. He sees a voicemail from Max. It cuts to the kitchen of Sam’s house, and we see Sam go to his mother, wanting him to listen and tell him what Max has said. But we sit in Sam’s perspective unable to hear what is being said but from the reaction of the mother and the father in the background grabbing his phone calling triple 0, Sam immediately runs out of the house and attempts to make it to Max’s house as Max is about to give his life. When Sam and the audience arrive outside Max’s house, Fletcher is also there walking to the house, but Fletcher was going there to congratulate Max on the win unaware of Max’s current situation, but once Fletcher see’s Sam run in instantly, he acknowledges something isn’t right. The camera stops on Fletcher, pans to him running into the house and tracks behind him as it reveals Max about to commit suicide, but both Fletcher and Sam attempt to talk it out of him.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
CREW MEMBERS
Zachary Turner: Director, Writer, D.P., Lighting, Editor
Responsibilities: Zach’s Responsibilities as director is to manage and control the cast and crew members on and off set, prepare them for shooting, and direct the actors in any which way Zach envisions. As a writer, it’s his duty to have a script prepared for members of the cast and crew so everyone is at the same understanding. Being the director of photography (D.P.), he is the individual responsible for the outcome and style of the cinematography and should know how to use a camera and where to position it, similar cases apply to lighting.
Aidan Vaughan: Co-Director, Lighting, Grip
Responsibilities: Aidan’s responsibilities as a crew member is to keep everyone from not becoming distracted, the director directs all the actors to act, the co-directors responsibility is to maintain order on set, and keep everything running to schedule and times during days on set. Aidan will also assist on lighting, when cued to, as well be responsible if anyone gets hurt with the equipment, this is if he is operating it at the time.
Rueben Pitt: Co-Director of Photography, composer, BTS Director
Responsibilities: Reuben is the cinematographer and crew member responsible for all the behind-the-scenes film, using the Canon EOS5 for the majority of the time, he is indirectly the main cameraman for all the scenes during the off takes of the shoot. Rueben will also be a minor component to the music and will do soft workloads and editing of the audio and track. He will also learn the script just the same as all the cast to have a good understanding of the emotion and tone.
Tom Sinclair: Composer
Responsibilities: Tom’s one main responsibility is to help the director compose music and leitmotifs for the director in order to correct and stylise the tone and genre of the film. He is the main creator for the music and will be operating behind the piano. He also has helped amend few lines in the script.
Macleod Elliot: Composer
Responsibilities: MacLeod is in the same position as Tom Sinclair, he’s one of the main composers for the music and leitmotifs for the director in order to correct and stylise the tone and genre of the film. He will be operating behind a 12 String instrumental Guitar and will assist bot the director and main composer.
CAST MEMBERS
Tasman Blizzard: Actor, Protagonist (Max)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Taz plays Max, The main character/ protagonist of the narrative. Max can be arrogant, not lacking empathy or care for others, but more that narrow-minded, believes that he needs to be better. Max has an abusive father, doesn't have a mother, has been shown to be bullied at school and is struggling with mental health. But Max is blind from what's already beside him. He has a friend, who have an awfully caring family, a team that looks up to him and good grades, etc. Within the basketball court, his speciality comes from his ability to dribble and zip through majority of players.
Bailey Walsh: Actor, Side Protagonist (Sam)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Bailey plays Sam, the side protagonist, he’s caring, empathetic, is happy with his state and presence and is always there next to Max to get him through the day. Although he is deaf, he is considerably aware of what's going around him, he can easily tell the emotion of another person just via their facial expressions. Essentially contrasting Max entirely. Within basketball, he is a strong player at defence. Sam acts as the need for Max, where Max avoids his needs for his wants.
Aidan Vaughan: Actor, Antagonist (Dom)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Aidan is Dom, the main antagonist of the story and perfectly represents Max’s outer conflict. He does everything he can possibly to ensure Max fails in the basketball game, he is a foil to Max.
Ryder Blizzard: Actor, Side Character (Connor)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Ryder plays Connor, Impressive basketball player, good at getting himself open and getting simple easy shots in for their team. Connor is a joyful comedic character and is essentially playing the sport for the socialising. He is there to lighten the tone of the short film.
Jack Repca: Actor, Side Character (Charlie)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Jack plays Charlie, Cautious, but pretentious character. He admires Max and his spirit of basketball but doesn't believe he is a good leader as he gets caught up in himself. He is committed to basketball and wishes to be a proper NBA player, which will be mentioned by his cousin who appears on the opposition team. He is good at his shooting and offensive plays. And is the character to win the game for the team.
Rhys Munford: Actor, Side Character (Dennis)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Rhys plays Dennis, who enjoys attention, intentionally enjoys hassling others but is a good person, although he likes provoking aggression from his teammates, his intentions are seemed to be for the spotlight/attention, but in reality, he's empathetic, willing to help out others and is a good support in the game.
POST-PRODUCTION CHANGES
RE-STRUCTURED INTENTION + NARRATIVE*
I intend for my production to be accomplished in the form of a 10 to 15 minute long short film with a 3-Act Structure in the intent to tell a narrative in a *household* with *two brothers tackling the loss of their mother acting as the internal conflict, the father being the external conflict*. I intend to have a cast over a hundred *which was changed due to covid and time constraints*. I will use multiple locations that fit within the desired narrative *didn't fit into the new intent and narrative I have in mind*.
My narrative will be told through a character called Max, a *a brother always trying to prove to himself that he can continue to play basketball and gradually get better*. But is constantly challenged by his internal conflicts, a feeling of loss and detachment from the death of his mother, which is ever only implicitly told to the audience by his bursts of memory, seeping into his own reality, but Max distracts himself from this loss by instead burying it deep within himself, never confronting it. Max’s development is subverted in the second act, when the audience is informed *that Max learns from his brother Fletcher that his inactions in conjunction to his present has left him detached from who he is and is constantly pushing people away when confronted about his mother or father*. *The third act is the reveal of the father being responsible for the death of their mother and so when the father returns home, tension unfolds and each character has to confront their conflicts*
So the core message of the story is not to let your past become your future *this is the same core message of the narrative for both "Friends and Plenty", my original film and "The Weight of You" *
CONSENT AND LICENSING
Licensing of music for my film and to have permission to publish for online purposes such as social media, YouTube and this website. There are currently three various licensing forms for 3 seperate songs from "Audiomachine", in which costed $12.99 collectively. The consent forms are for the actors and crew members of my film for me to use their appearance and voice online.
MUSIC LICENCES
CONSENT REQUEST FORM
CALL SHEETS
General Time was changed to 11:30am and we wrapped up at 1pm, and instead it was shot in August and only at shooting location #1
Rueben Pitt was not involved during this shoot and instead was replaced with the Co-Director 'Aidan Vaughan' and was early on set at 11am
This shoot has been completely canceled due to COVID-19 and the main protagonist 'Tasman Blizzard' being unable to attend the shoot
SHOT LIST
Rueben Pitt was not involved during this shoot and instead was replaced with the Co-Director 'Aidan Vaughan' and was early on set at 11am
SCRIPT
There are 2 reasons this shot is cut out. One, due to covid-19, I cannot bring my external actor into School premise. Two, there is not enough time.
Some of these scenes were changed for stylistic choices and actor availability...but mostly the availability of certain actors made changes.
STORYBOARD
Collectively post-production, I was only able to film scene 6 due to covid but I will not cross anything out so you can view the original idea
POST-PRODUCTION
So from the 29th of September, I scrapped my original film as it was nearing impossible to make due to the factors presented in the post-production video, I've decide to create a new project with a very similar protagonist with identical internal conflicts, the same wants and needs, and core message. But, because my original external conflict was attached to a large basketball game which is difficult to accomplish with a minimal cast, I've decided to design a film called "The Weight of You".
RE-IMAGINED TREATMENT
Film : ‘The Weight of You’ | Name : Introduction | Scene : 1 | Act 1
The Narrative starts off with a black screen and a news report of a woman, the mother of two boys crashed into a tree with a knife plunged into the chest with critical damage to the head and lungs. Then the scene is supported by visuals of a young protagonist named Max, who is playing on his own in the rain with a basketball but is struggling to get a shot in. The ball is in conjunction with the crash of the mother as the ball is meant to represent the weight Max holds and is unable to let go as Max is too stuck within the past and unable to move on due to this figurative moral obligation that Max has set upon himself. Intro title card rolls and the film begins.
Name : Ingredients | Scene : 2 | Act 1
The scene starts with Max opening the fridge smoothly transitioning to scene 2. This is where the film introduces the external conflict both Max and his brother Fletcher have to endure. They have to make a beef stir fry before their father returns from work or they are facing serious trouble. This scene also introduces Fletcher, a bright energetic older brother who cares deeply for Max, however Max is unable to see that connection and attention Fletcher gives him and sees it as a problem. I wanted to contrast the first scene with something more light as I wanted to allow the audience to relate and connect with its protagonists. The beef stir fry is also a subversion of the real conflict they face, instead its the confrontation of the father and meal is a distraction/red herring so the audience less expect the dad being a murderer. Max wanting to drive is him trying to communicate that he is able to change and disconcert himself towards the past.
Name : Trying to Start Car | Scene : 3 | Act 1
Both Fletcher and Max hop into the car with Max in the front seat ready to drive, but as the film continues, it communicates that Max is inexperienced with driving as he struggles to work out how the car starts. Initially I want it to be more light hearted and ploy the scene as something more brotherly, however the scene begins to change which the audience should begin to realise it may be connected to the report from the introduction scene. Fletcher allows Max to have his own space for growth where Max is ignorantly blind to Fletcher's feelings as a little brother. This acts as a growing point for the protagonist to overcome and act selflessly and learn from his mistakes. The scene transitions into the flashback with him looking out from the window.
Name : Mother's Flashback | Scene : 4 | Act 1
Max see's a flashback of himself playing basketball outside in the dark prior to his mother leaving for a 'business trip' and establishing Max and his mother having a good relationship as they are continuously bouncing off one another with joyful conversations. This also where it reveals that Max although doesn't enjoy playing basketball plays it out of the love he has for his mother with the mother saying "getting that ball where it needs to be" and Max replies "yeah in the shed" implying Max isn't too fond in playing basketball, however is the only thing he can carry that is sentimental to his mother, it establishes his want, his want for his mother. Fletcher is reflects Max's need.
Name : Detachment from relationships | Scene : 5 | Act 2
This scene depicts Max attempting to reconnect to his friend Timmy, implying Max is denying the voice of his mother and is his second attempt at pushing away from his past. But the mistake Max made was instead of confronting his past, being able to identify it, seperate it, and control it. Max decides to push it further down his mind only resurfacing anytime someone mentions his family or plays basketball and driving a car. Timmy and Max play a game and enjoy their fleeting moment before Timmy mentions Max's father. From then, he begins to struggle wrapping his head around what he's feeling and so asks Timmy to leave and stares at the knives as a short flashback recording plays of the mother in great distress with the father yelling at her. Then it cuts back to present with Fletcher's arrival with the beef and Fletcher tires to comfort Max, but instead he storms out and goes back to the one thing he has with his mother, basketball.
Name : Cassette Tapes | Scene : 6 | Act 2
This beat in the story is incredibly important for the depths it brings to both the internal and external conflicts in each Max and Fletcher. It results in Max's understanding of his needs in comparison to his ignorance and his desires. It establishes Fletcher understanding what Max is going through because he himself is able to not just empathise by sympathise because he can relate to his pain as he himself went through it himself, but instead through the cassette tape, not through basketball. They both listen to her voice being able to finally as brothers share both feelings. It also foreshadows Max's decision to confront his fears instead of burying them. Fletcher stops the tape and warms up to Max, from that point, it subverts the audiences expectations as, to this point the audience is probably unaware of the external conflict, their father. Once noticing another cassette in red, they play it realising their father murdered their mother. After realising this, the car rocks up through the driveway and creates an uneasy tension as this murderer without any time to plan out their actions arrives early. Max and Fletcher confront their conflicts.
Name : Dinner | Scene : 7 | Act 3
As each three sit next to each other with Thai food the antagonist, the father brought home early due to the storm outside. The scene slowly pushes into the tension by keeping it primarily handheld and close to the characters. Fletcher is more talkative, almost as if he's acting to attempt to not look suspicious, whereas Max is unable to make conversation or eat whilst he attempts to handle his emotions due to him not knowing what the father may do if they make it evident that they know. But Max cannot handle the pressure, in doing so walks out from the table to the knives, remembering how he abused her and threatened her with a knife, possibly being a corresponding reason for the mothers death. The father openly approaches Max but he throws his hand from his shoulder and intently shouts "You killed her!" confronting both his conflicts. Police sirens can be heard in the distance and they both flee the house and the father is arrested. The end.
NEW ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
CREW MEMBERS
Zachary Turner: Director, Writer, D.P., Lighting, Editor
Responsibilities: Zach’s Responsibilities as director is to manage and control the cast and crew members on and off set, prepare them for shooting, and direct the actors in any which way Zach envisions. As a writer, it’s his duty to have a script prepared for members of the cast and crew so everyone is at the same understanding. Being the director of photography (D.P.), he is the individual responsible for the outcome and style of the cinematography and should know how to use a camera and where to position it, similar cases apply to lighting.
Aidan Vaughan: Co-Director, Lighting, Grip
Responsibilities: Aidan’s responsibilities as a crew member is to keep everyone from not becoming distracted, the director directs all the actors to act, the co-directors responsibility is to maintain order on set, and keep everything running to schedule and times during days on set. Aidan will also assist on lighting, when cued to, as well be responsible if anyone gets hurt with the equipment, this is if he is operating it at the time.
Macleod Elliot: Composer
Responsibilities: MacLeod is in the same position as Tom Sinclair, he’s one of the main composers for the music and leitmotifs for the director in order to correct and stylise the tone and genre of the film. He will be operating behind a 12 String instrumental Guitar and will assist bot the director and main composer.
CAST MEMBERS
Tasman Blizzard: Actor, Protagonist (Max)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Taz plays Max, The main character/ protagonist of the narrative. Max can be arrogant, not lacking empathy or care for others, but more that narrow-minded, believes that he needs to be better. Max has an abusive father, doesn't have a mother, but Max is blind from what's already beside him. He has a brother who cares about him deeply but can't accept his feelings as something absolute.
Aidan Vaughan: Actor, Side Character (Timmy)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Aidan is Timmy, a side character who used to be a good friend of the protagonist Max, he was contacted and brought to his home, however he is purposeful to Max's development, establishing his disconnect to his friends and the rest of his family.
Ryder Blizzard: Actor, Protagonist (Fletcher)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Ryder plays Fletcher, Kind and energetic, always looking out for his brother and is the older of the two. He also is struggling with the death of his mother but was able to maintain it in comparison to Max who continues to bury his feelings instead of confronting them.
Kylie Blizzard: Actor, Side Character (Mother)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Kylie plays Max and Fletcher's Mother, who cares and is affectionate towards both her sons, wants Max to continue basketball and loves Fletcher for his kind heart. She is only seen in flashbacks and recordings and is already dead from the start of the film. She is in the centre of both protagonists internal conflicts.
Andrew Blizzard: Actor, Antagonist (Father)
Responsibilities: The responsibility of the actor is to immerse himself into his given character, whether his performance is real nor accentuated, the actor is not to be the individual, but the character in the narrative. Andrew plays Max and Fletcher's Father, a person who does at heart love his sons, but has a certain click of anger until he killed their mother, his wife because she was apart of an affair and he killed her out of anger and hatred for leaving him and her children. He is the main external conflict for both brothers and the antagonist of the story.
CONSENT REQUEST FORMS
FINALISED CALL SHEETS
Aidan turned up earlier at 11:00am and Kylie Blizzard was called into work and came back to shooting after the allocated time.
The General time was changed to 6pm due to Aidan and Ryder having Cricket. training during the original time allocation, my fault for timing.
POST-PRODUCED SHOT LIST
No edits, nor amendments are needed for the shot list due to the shots list been written post the production and editing because of time constraints, however it is incredibly helpful to look over to understand when each scene and beat is introduced and when it cuts over.
FINALISED SCRIPT
CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Note: All the codes and conventions listed are not every code or convention utilised, just the ones more important to the narrative, heavily utilised and are accentuated to assist the style.
CODES
CAMERA
Camera is a, possibly the fundamental code/tool to film as it allows the audience to visualise and relate emotion through the use of a perceivable lens, that can either ground us in reality or engage us in the fantasy of fictionality. But most prominently, I used three major camera techniques to highlight and accentuate emotion, character and push the narrative forward. Firstly that being, the extreme close up, or more appropriately in its use, the insert shot. Secondly was the pull in camera movement. And finally being handheld camera movement.
Insert Shot
An insert shot, also coined the extreme close up is a subject commonly feeling the entire frame to convey emotion or ‘insert’ crucial information to the audience. That was the main purpose of my insert shot was to control the information conveyed to the audience by having it being the centre of all attention, and so the audience can grasp and understand what it is and how it intends to develop the narrative. For example, I used an insert shot of the cassette to communicate its cruciality by isolating the subject and putting all attention on that one subject.
Push-in Movement
The camera movement, push-in and accountably the pull-out. It allows similar to an ECU, it allows a filmmaker to push into a specific detail to accentuate importance. Or, most related to my use is the capturing of perspective or pushing into one’s mind, by sinking out the background and pushing the audience closer to the subject as if you are getting closer to the same realisation as he is. For example, I used the push-in onto my protagonist Max, acted by Tasman Blizzard as he stares into some knives, in which conveys thought, whilst he hears the screams of his mother being abused with the fathers hand holding a knife, keying in how the character perceives the father.
Handheld / Random Movement
Handheld is a favourite of mine, but only subtly used in specific sections of a mother to elevate emotion and intent on grounding the audience, less like an omniscient entity, and more the audience experiencing events in tandem to the character within the narrative. So when an action or subsequent event happens, it maintains more engagement with its audience as they are now between or within the drama of the scene. For example, I used the camera off the tripod in third act to build the tension by having the audience be apart of the drama, having you the audience see the world from their level.
ACTING
With acting, there are two quintessential types of expressions in the actors vocabulary, the body and facial expression. The body is important to understand a person’s current mental state dependent on how sporadic or slow they are, their proxemics such as intimate, personal, social or public space. However face is the key to one’s internal emotion, this can commonly be noted under microexpressions that could suggest emotions such as sadness, disgust, fear, etc.
Body Expression
I wanted the body expression to elevate the happiness in scenes, have it been a contrast to the facial emotions. Body expressions is a incredible example to show how little steps and positions in arms and legs can establish one’s current mental state. For example, Taz’s body expressions establish him being in a currently happy state with him jumping carelessly and his little fear of judgement, conveys to the audience, he is in a state of joy.
Facial Expression
Compared to body, facial is more important in telling someone’s internal feelings, that cast a further judgement, in the eyes, mouth, movement, etc. Emotion is all in the souls of individuals eyes and a good example of raw emotion is the main protagonist, and actor Tasman Blizzard using purposeful eye contact and gazing into a lack of a subject suggests his current state is elsewhere, that he isn’t thinking of the now, rather the past also reflective of the tears, adding more layers of regret, acceptance, depression, etc.
EDITING
Editing is the process of structuring your film in a cohesive and fluent way that an audience can easily immerse themselves into the narrative the director or writer has created. Most common editing styles and most present within the film is the long take / oner, a simple cut and rhythmic editing, in which it follows the non-diegetic. But commonly editing is one of the last codes to be used within any filming process unless they go through reshoots.
Long take / Oner
The long take is a shot, often with the use of camera movement, does not move another shot for an extended period of time. Essentially, it’s the static movement of editing. The lack of cuts and transitions can push the audience closer into the scene as every action has finite meaning. For example I used a long take during the dinner beat of the film to build tension and unpredictability, what actions everyone may take and keeps the audience on its toes.
Cut
A simple cut, when it swaps from one shoot to another can allow to simply get another perspective of the setting and location, and the focal point of the subject. It may be common but can punctuate tonal shifts, alter the subject focus and more. The simple cut between the car wheel and the lights on the window, firstly establishes a more intimate angle of the car and the subject and cuts to just the lights of car, distancing itself from the subject, by clouding it in mystery and horror, that the cut signifies the unpredictability involved with the subject/character.
Rhythmic Editing
Rhythmic just establishes each cut to be aligned or parallel to the imagery with non-diegtic sound. Out of the many editing techniques, this is primarily utilised as a stylistic choice, to keep engagement with the audience and the narrative by keeping it unique and engaging by conveying a non-literal world. An example is when it swaps between the present and past, I used Macleod Elliot’s 12 chord instrumental performance to enhance the emotion and visuals of the scene, less of a purpose and more of a stylistic choice.
LIGHTING
Although I have been unable to film any of the final production as of now, I collected various photographs of Ryder Blizzard, an actor involved in my short film, playing the character, Fletcher. I used various angles of the camera and the density of the light, to how much is exposed to his face. The first photograph is centred directly on Blizzard, no reflectors or softening equipment’s used, giving off a harsh shadow to the right of his face. The second angle is a true test of the equipment with a soft box cutting off a lot of the harsher light and being more dynamic on the actor. The lighting shown on the second photograph is the style I am hoping for in my final production.
Low key
It’s the use of the different directions of lights to intentionally create lighting to add more dynamic stylistic characteristics, but also low-key lighting makes a subject more clouded in judgement or mindset. For example, I used low key lighting on the cassette reveal scene with Fletcher, the protagonists brother opening up, in which he reveals a consistent level of contrast to his normal self, usually Fletcher is more energetic and bright, however he cares more about the safety of his brother than his own appearance, to accentuate how his brother truly cares for him.
Backlighting
Backlighting is the use of lighting positioned behind the subject in the composition to make it appear darker to the audience and bring depth into the background, giving a sense of place. It also can give a dramatic effect, giving the story a little more nuance and style. For example the shot bellow was to convey the tonal shift and push away from the narratives original conflict of making the beef stir fry, it’s a dramatic shift from tone and focus on story and is an important que for the audience to understand the internal primary focus.
Reflected lighting
Reflected light is light bouncing off a reflector board, ceiling, wall or any other surface to intentionally soften the intensity of the light and keep the seen having a dynamic and a naturalistic feeling. It is used to keep a seen grounded and real instead of it being less cinematic. For example, we used Reflected lighting in the kitchen scenes to keep both subjects in view but not create low-key or backlighting. Also not relying on naturalistic lighting to carry the films visuals.
SOUND
Sound and music is incredibly important, more than people understand in film. Sound doesn’t just add emotion or maintain realism and engagement, it makes a project feel more prestigious and professional. Sound is something that most humans correlate to their own reality and if it feels low quality, you can be instantly disconnected to a films world, and feel detached from the cinema’s reality due to this. There are three main uses of techniques I used in my film to maintain engagement and ground the narrative in reality.
Non-diegetic
Non-diegetic sound is essentially sound that can be heard from its audience but isn’t directly attached to the narratives world and is a cinema effect to embody emotion and accentuate character and world. For example, the track “Mum” Macleod Elliot composed and played is symbolic of Max, the protagonist’s connection to his past and primarily his mother, representing Max’s internal conflicts. It’s a simple tool to further iterate a motif and a character can be queued into what could be predictably shown visually
Diegetic
Diegetic sound can be heard by the audience in conjunction with the characters within the world of the narrative. Diegetic sound is a tool to ground the narrative in reality, using sound to show that it’s not separate to the outside of the world. It allows characters as well as viewers to hear what is happening around them. It can generate suspense and it can also add mystery. For instance, when the car rocks up in the driveway, we the audience feel the same fear and suspense as does the characters as we are now experiencing what they are experiencing, their father, who they’ve learnt is the murderer of their mother.
Voice Over
Voice overs is dialogue recorded by an actor outside the filming of a scene, but is placed over the original sound and visuals, commonly as a diegetic sound, unless it’s a narration. Voice overs allows for the audience to understand information given to the audience in a more logical and understandable format. For example, I had three voice overs but the two primary voice overs were cassette tapes of the parents to convey information to the characters by sound and not visuals primarily.
CONVENTIONS
CHARACTER
Within film, character is convention that is more complex as a utility for a narrative as well the focal point and interest of most films as it acts as the central point of engagement for an audience. Although, plot may drive the character, the character drives an audience and therefore is more important for the interest of the film over anything. The character is a person within the world of the narrative and the actor tries to fit into that character, re-enact his mannerisms and personalities. There are three primary character types I what to present in in my analysis and that boils down to the protagonist, antagonist, and side characters.
Protagonist
The protagonist is the driving force of any film, the decisions made by the character will be inflicted by a conflict from within, or externally by another character, nature, society, themselves, and more. A protagonist will have his own themes and perspectives on things and should change as a result before the end of the narrative. Max Ryder is my protagonist acted by Tasman Blizzard and initially is ignorant and unable to move on from his past and if negatively affected by it. However, he learns that his attitude is effecting his life and has a need to move on from his conflict.
Antagonist
The antagonist is a character/group of character’s that cause the major conflict for their protagonist. However, the antagonist can ultimately still be the protagonist, who is torn between a problem internally. An antaonist doesn’t have to be a person, it can be a society, an animal and as mentioned before, the protagonist himself. In my film, the main antagonist was the father who ultimately caused the major conflict the protagonist has been determined to overcome. The father killed the mother in which effected Max to distrusting his father, detaching himself from his friends and brother and has struggled to move on from it.
Minor Character
A minor character are not as important as either the protagonist or antagonist, however still play a major part in the overall narrative and development of the main characters. Their actions in conjunction to the protagonist drive the story forward. They commonly impact the decisions made by the protagonist, either helping or interfering with the conflict. My minor character is Timmy who is a static character who he himself doesn’t have his own ark, instead they are designed to create tension or relief. Timmy interferes with his conflicts by confronting it, showing a detachment from friends and family.
SETTING
The setting of a film can maintain a sense of reality and immerse the audience into the focal point, the character. It can help set a mood, influence the way characters behave, inflict on dialogue, foreshadow events, invoke an emotional response, and most importantly be representative or reflective of the characters emotions and decisions. In my short film, I base this off two areas in the setting, which both contrast one another. The inside and outside. The outside environment controls the internal factors, as Max primarily interacts with the outside to clear his conscience and feel as if he is back with his Mum. The inside invokes a sense of loss, an uncontrollable factor buried down, and so it’s all the external factors that negatively hold down Max and his problems, instituting the main themes and message of the film.
STRUCTURING OF TIME
There are two main structures in time, however there are more, but commonly it can be split into two different structures, linear or non-linear. Linear is a narrative told in chronological order, it explains events and plots as the characters themselves learn the events. Non-linear is a narrative cut up in a non-chronological order of events. For example, the film could start off with events that occur nearing the end of the film and ends where it would chronologically start. However, a linear film can have non-linear aspects such as flashbacks and narrations that although might cut to a non-chronological event but it’s from the perspective of the character, essentially the events are occurring from the characters perspectives, not the stories, meaning the event itself is still linear. I use a flashback of the mother saying goodbye to the protagonist one last time, but due to it being from the mind and perspective of Max, it is told linearly.
ANALYSIS OF TECHNOLOGY
CAMERA
Lumix Panasonic G95 + 12-60mm Lens
The Camera utilised in my short film is the Lumix Panasonic G95, a digital single lens, mirrorless camera, with a 4:3 aspect ratio, a total of 21.77 megapixels and a primary colour filter. It records in a high definition 4K. The lens can extend from 12 to 60mm with a F-stop of 3.5-5.6, but essentially the camera records clean footage and films at 60-120 frames per second which is perfect for the style I was aiming for.
EVIDENCE
I will show three images of evidence, that utilised the cameras ability in three different aspects. Firstly is automatic lighting and focus that was used primarily for any casual dialogue heavy scene such as the kitchen and living room shots as the focus was less on the stylistic composition and more on conveying information through dialogue.
The next shot was used with manual iso and lighting but automatic focus. This technique allowed me to keep the subject in focus allowing me the cameraman to focus my attention on the light levels for the quality of the shot and look.
The third shot type was shot completely manually, and the frames were put to 240 frames per second, in which allows it to be captured in slow motion, giving a more stylistic and unique effect. It also allows to capture the subject in an engaging and can accentuate the importance of the subject of the shot.
MICROPHONE
Rode VideoMic Pro
Because of the poor quality of audio on the Lumix Panasonic, or on any camera for that matter, the video microphone will make it possible to resource more softer audio, easier to manipulate and edit later within the editing process. It inputs from -10dB, 0 and up to 20dB and allows for a flat or 80Hz high pass filtering. Essentially the microphone collects good sounding audio with various settings to lower or cut out any unnecessary background noise if need be.
TRIPOD
Nameless Brand (Various tripods)
The current tripod I am using includes no obvious branding and I am borrowing a previously bought tripod at my house. It includes three drop extending latches to adjust the height for a camera or possibly the microphone. Mostly, the tripod will be utilised with the codes and conventions present in the film and the storyboard. It will be used for various static movements, where the camera stays still and helpful for trucking shots (smooth tracking movements).
EVIDENCE
For the Microphone and Tripod, all the evidence and use of each technology is underlined and highlighted in the behind the scenes. It goes into depth of the idea of the film, casts and crew, and it accentuate the dedication to the craft of the film.
EDITING SOFTWARE
iMovie Editing Software
iMovie is a free extension to most Apple Mac devices and is simplistic and reliable to use, however due to its simplicities, it limits the number of features included on the software, but ‘limitation breeds creativity’, it may be simple but efficient and allows you to view the way you create your short film according the footage and audio collected. But most importantly it runs smoothly on the Mac, with little crashes.
EVIDENCE
Here is the evidence of my film being edited on iMovie for the efficiency and ease of editing a student film from the best of my ability and understanding of editing.
FEEDBACK AND IMPROVEMENTS
TOM SINCLAIR
Tom Sinclair was not the first person to view my film however the first person to formally review and hand out feedback of the narrative. Tom is my co-composer and wrote the piano motif within my original and new film. Here is Tom’s response:
Tom acknowledged the composition and how it was well shot, it felt like a high-quality production in terms of ‘production’ however thought that introduction of the mother and Max felt out of place. He wasn’t too sure whether it was the editing or the thematic purpose, but it is good to note that this was replaceable. The shot was taken at night and can feel jarring when the scene transitions from Night today and feels misplaced and distracting to the overall structuring of time. Ultimately, I chose some footage I shot of Tasman Blizzard playing basketball enjoying himself to have a lighter tone to the film, foreshadowed with some dark themes in the music.
DAPHNE PIPER
Daphne viewed the experience on the 6th of October and had watched the version that was publicised after Tom Sinclair’s reflection, for clarification, I reworked the introduction as it did feel out of place and lacked meaning and didn’t establish anything. So this is Daphne’s review:
Daphne’s review was concise and sparred no details. She primarily talked about the vibe of the music presented in the film in conjunction to the song Tom Sinclair wrote for the film. The main problem that is notable is less the song itself, more the quality of the song and the song itself feels out of place and contradicts the tone of the film. So I took this advice and consulted with Tom Sinclair, the composer of the song to ask whether he felt the song fitted into the overall film and agreed with Daphne’s Synopsis. Ultimately, I edited out the song and replaced it with an ‘Audiomachine’ song.
RHYS MUMFORD
After Rhys viewed my film, I asked him what changes or anything he enjoyed of the film, and he was able to give me reasonable constructive criticisms that was in reach of fixing.
So, overall Rhys enjoyed the experience and was quite positive in his response to watching the film however, he would make one change or get rid of one scene. It’s when Max, the protagonist is staring deeply into the knives after discussing about his father, however it is nothing that prepares you for the information and does little service to the overall narrative. So instead of cutting it out, I would make it feel important by utilising a voice over to emphasis and highlight the correlation between the knives and his dad instead of just the leit motif.