As a group we have given out each of the different roles; Sam will be director and script writer, Lloyd will be Story board designer and I will be editor.
I am very happy that I have been given the role of editor as I feel that I am very competent with computers and already know several techniques as I was the editor of my AS group.
I am going to look on the internet for as many different editing software as possible, I have found many priced from FREE download all the way up to £2,000 I also found a laptop which is just for video editing which is priced at £3,500. I have downloaded several of the free programs, some of them were very simple with basic applications such as deleting sections, others were really good giving many special effects and even being able to edit sound tracks and layer different videos on top of each other.
I was researching short films on ‘YouTube’, after watching a variety of films I found a short film called ‘The Plan’. The film is four minutes forty two seconds long, and seems to be rather popular on the website, it has received good reviews.
‘The Plan’ was written and directed by Matthew Kalish in 2008, and is said to be award winning.
The film is an action drama, it begins with a voiceover. A man is describing his life and what he wishes to change about it. He decides to quit his job, leave his girlfriend and migrate to Las Vegas with all the money he possesses. His plan is to bet all of his money on ‘Red’, on a roulette table. It would appear that the man is bored with the direction that his life is heading and wants to try something new. As the film is in black and white, the focus is on the action and what is being said rather than the surroundings of the film. The man then meets a girl; the conversation between the two of them is not polite and is very brief. He then takes a picture of her but she isn’t impressed. She takes the camera from him and runs away; as he chases her she is capturing the event on his camera. He then loses track of where she has gone, gets in his car and reassures himself of his plan to ‘Vegas’. Once arriving he puts all of his money into one game and loses it all. His ex-girlfriend is continually calling him throughout the film, however he ignores each call. He finally answers the phone to her he notices a picture, instantly hanging up the phone he walks towards it. It’s from his camera and is of him chasing the girl. He picks it up and a message is written on the reverse side, simply saying “Now we’re even” followed by her address and name.
The film is initiating that sometimes in life you need to take a gamble. By taking a step back from his original routines he discovers there is a lot more to be seen and achieved in the world. The film also has connotations of ‘fate’ as it would appear the man lost his money for a reason but still won the heart of the girl. The target audience for this film would be of both genders but from young adults to middle aged. This film would appeal to a younger audience because it shows how life can be and that by taking it into your own hands anything can happen.
I am going to look at a short film called "Chicken Ala Carte".
I found this short film on YouTube by typing in 'Award Winning Short Film'. This short film was directed by Ferdinand Dimadura in 2005, the production company that he works with is called Rosy Cheeks Entertainment 13. “Chicken Ala Carte”, which was entered into the category of Food, Taste and Hunger it won the People's Choice Award at the Green Film Festival organized by Culture Unplugged. Culture Unplugged is the first film festival to go Online, with more than two million viewers worldwide “Chicken Ala Carte” has already been certified as a Web Blockbuster. Ferdinand Dimadura then beat more than 300 other film entries in competition from all over the world to earn The Most Shared Film Award. It was viewed by almost 100,000 people every day over the Internet. It was also entered into another competition where 3,600 other entrants entered and only 32 films were shown at The Berlinale Talent Campus, the film was successful and was awarded as The Most Popular short Film. This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying every day due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society, the people who live on the refuse of men to survive. What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people. (http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte). The film starts with the logos of well known fast food chains, it then has two girls who go into one of the fast food chains and ordering food, it then shows the food being made and taken over to the two girls. The two girls are then laughing and gesturing that they are full, they then leave the restaurant. A man then comes along on his bike with a bin and goes into the restaurant and takes a bag a rubbish and looks through the rubbish for uneaten bits of food then he cycles off. When he returns home he is greeted by loads of children running up to his bike and grabbing the food from his bin. There are then lots of shots of what seem to be poor people eating the scraps of food and looking very happy. The man then goes into his house where his family look really pleased to see that he has brought home some food, he then gives the food out to his family and they all say grace for the food. It then says "25000 people die of hunger, each day" and hen shows the children trying to grab the food. This film looks like a documentary the whole way through but it defiantly does have drama parts in, we can guess that the girls who order the food are actors, we do not know whether the people who fight over the food are actors who are acting out true events or if they know they are being filmed but they are the actual people who live in this way. This is a really good short film but I do not think it would be able to be made into a feature length film. The plot is establish very quickly, there aren’t many actors/actresses. The target audience for this film seems to be political people as the film is very politic based. I believe that this film has been made for the audience to find it and not really be based on one specific target audience.
Hello, my name is Lloyd and I am taking A level media studies at Westbourne Sixth Form. Recently, in our class I received a brief on what we ha\ve to do for our A2 media studies project. The brief was to produce a short film that lasted 5 minutes long. We were also organised into a group of 3 people to work with. In my group is Sam and James. I was really pleased with the members of my group because I have worked with Sam before and know he is hardworking and reliable. Although I have never worked with Ryan before, I have seen his previous work and know they have lots of good ideas.
For my AS media production, I worked with Sam and we produced the opening two minutes of a film. Sam was the director and I was the script writer. However, for the A2 project I have been given the role of storyboard, Sam is the director and scriptwriter, and ryan is the editer. I am really looking forward to taking on the task of storyboard and coming up with lots of ideas with the help of my group.
Short films can be broadcasted anywhere; as group we have had a look on the internet to see what we could find. We typed in Short Films into Google search engine and this is what came up:
The easiest way to get your film noticed is by uploading it onto different websites such as:
These are only a few of the hundreds different short film websites which are about. Some of these sites, such as NewGrounds, also feature other attractions such as games and pictures.
Hello my name is Sam, and i am feeling in a very positive mood about our A2 project. We received the brief from our teacher and we have also arranged ourselves into groups. I am going to be working with Ryan, Jam Lloyd. I am delighted with my group as there is a real useful mix of personalities. Ryan, having seen him working in other groups, is a great organiser and is hot on time management so we should be okay at meeting deadlines with him around. Being very imaginative, lloyd will rise to the challenge of coming up with good constructive ideas. I feel I am is the productive one, providing different locations, getting together the different props needed etc.
For our AS project we had to make the opening two minutes of a film our group created. I definitely think it was very successful, particularly thinking the clever complex camera shots were the most triumphant. However the most enjoyable part for me was once everything was filmed, putting the pieces together and editing it into a good quality piece of film.
A basic outline to our brief for A2 is that we have to produce a 5 minute short film. So there is a lot of research and planning to be getting on with. If the AS project is anything to go by, i am sure i will thoroughly enjoy myself this year!!!
Today we received our briefing in A2 media studies; we have to make a short film which will be 5 minutes long, we had our groups sorted out as well. I am now working with Ryan, Sam and Lloyd which is good as in AS media I worked with different people giving me new ideas and production to work with. Ryan is the technical one as he is great with computers and loves what he can do, Sam is the brains of the groups who comes up with the creative ideas and Lloyd is the worker as we can always rely on him to get the work done.
In AS media I worked with Luke, Finlay and Martyn but towards the end of the project Martyn and I were the only two who continues with the project as the other members decided that media studies weren’t for them. We were given a range of genres to pick from but we decided to make a thriller, the project was to make the opening two minutes of a film. Even though we ended up with two people I felt that our project was a success and I was happy with the end film. I look forward to this year’s project as I have more people to share my ideas and experiences with and I am sure this project will be much better.
Hello, I'm Ryan, today we were given our brief. We also sorted out our groups; I’m with James, Sam and Lloyd. I really look forward to working with these three because James has loads of good ideas, Sam is a natural born leader so he should make sure we keep to deadlines and Lloyd is good with the production side, he knows of good places to film and also come up with some really good ideas. I have never worked with these three people before and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can come up with.
For my AS production last year I worked with Samantha, Sean and Nicole. We decided to do a thriller. The brief last year was to make the first two minute opening to a movie. I feel that I worked really well with that group, we worked well as a team and shared all responsibilities. I really enjoyed making our film last year and hope to build on my experience and further my knowledge and understanding this year.
We now have our brief, which is to make a short film. It has to be around five minutes long. I already have lots of ideas, it is going to be good to hear what the rest of the group has come up with and I cannot wait to start working on this assignment.
