Short film research: (The Life and Death of Tommy Chaos and Stacey Danger)

 CAMS

• The close-up allows the audience to see the closeness between the two characters.

• The pan allows for the audience to see the movement that the two characters are doing together.

• Two shots show just how close the characters are and how important each is to the other.

• The wide shot shows how small of a space that the movie is in.

Mis-en-scene

• The setting used looks complex and advanced, allowing for the audience to see the time period it is set in.

• The lighting reflects the craziness of the whole situation.

• The constantly changing costumes allow the audience to see the constantly changing. conversations

Editing

• The zoom shows just how much the two characters are bonded and the connection they have.

• The fade-out allows for a simple transition between scenes.

• The shot/reverse shot allows for time to pass more quickly in the film.

Example Films

• Slumberland

• National Treasure

• Journey to the Center of the Earth

Elements we like

• If used properly, fade-outs show clean and precision which looks best for the movie.

• Paying attention to the setting makes the whole movie look more realistic, which is something we want for ours.

Elements we don't like

• The close-up is not needed for the effect of showing how close the two characters are, instead, it should the done by acting.

• While the lighting does add an extra layer to the movie, it serves more as a distraction.

  
  

  

Short film research: (one small step)

 CAMS

• An establishing shot shows the audience to get a perception of where the scene is taking place, especially if has changed or becomes relevant in the scene.

• The two shot allows audiences to see the connection between the girl and her father and the significance the relationship holds for each of them.

• The medium close-up allows for an emphasis on the character's face without only showing her face.

• The wide shot was able to show the environment and for the audience to understand what had happened.

Mis-en-scene

• The acting of constant laughter reflects the emotion making it more obvious to audiences.

• The costumes, at first, were able to reflect the hopes and dreams of the young girl.

• The dark, gloomy atmosphere after the death allows for the audience to understand what the girl is going through and sympathize with her.

• The setting remaining constant over all those years helps the audience to understand the father's love for his daughter never changed.

Editing

• The zoom shows the audience the emotion that the girl has and how much the moment will go on to impact her.

• The fade-in allows for a more seamless transition that goes almost unnoticeable.

• The dissolution makes the transition from past to present more smooth, helping the audience to understand that although time has passed, not much has changed.

Example Films

• Dog

• Black Adam

• Dune

Elements we like

• Establishing shots is crucial to the story, if not already expected

• Dissolve transitions are often the best way because they are noticeable but right at the perfect level, so scenes flow right through

• Using a wide shot to have the same effect as an establishing shot allows for more variety of camera angles

Elements we don't like

• The acting in this was almost overdone in certain parts and needs more maturity to it.

• The medium close-up was not the best shot to be used. A close-up or extreme close-up would have done a better job.

  
  

  

Short film research: (skywatch)

 CAMS

• Pan to show the change between television and real life

• Point of view shot allows the audience to fully understand the scene and the emotion that the character is feeling

• Over the shoulder shot shows the conversation that is being had and allows for an emphasis on it

• Tilt allows for the audience to see the height of the buildings and just how monumental what has happened truly is

Mis-en-scene

• Each setting of a home having the device makes the story more realistic

• The use of so many drones as props allow the audience to understand just how powerful the company is

• Plain, common outfits set up the two kids to be seen as "normal teenagers."

Editing

• Zoom to add a focus on what has happened (what is getting zoomed in on)

• Fade-out allows for a more defined finish

• Action match to depict the seriousness of the situation with the fast movements to help the audience be confused, just as the character is

Example Films

• Stand By Me

• Thor: Love and Thunder

• Uncharted

Elements we like

• Using a zoom allows for the audience to see something that may seem unimportant but is instead very significant to the story.

• The attention to detail in the mis-en-scene is important and what helps make the story as realistic as possible.

Elements we don't like

• Over-the-shoulder shots are sometimes great, but many times they just aren't as necessary and don't add much value to the story.

• Pan shots can sometimes be a bad fit for certain scenes, so it's important to make sure they belong in our movie.

  
  

  

  
  

Short film research: (slice)

 CAMS

• Aerial Shot to show the subject and their environment

• Wide Shot allows the audience to see the character moving in the scene

• Close Up helps the audience to focus on one particular part of the character

• Two Shot to show the interaction between two characters

• Medium Shot allows the audience to focus on the scene as a whole rather than just a single character

Mis-en-scene

• Costumes that match the character's energy (crazy or calm)

• Colored Lighting to Emphasize Kiss

• Blush as makeup to show Nervousness

• The phone is used as a communication device

• Messy Room to match messy emotions

Editing

• Split Screen to show more of the character in the environment and the other character

• Zoom allows for an extra emphasis.

• Eyeline Match allows the audience to see what the character is seeing

Example Films

• The Wizard of Oz

• Alice in Wonderland

• A Wrinkle in Time

Elements We Like

• The wide shot really helps the audience to understand how the character and scene are related.

• The use of a split screen becomes helpful in not only showing more of the environment but can also show characters at the same time in separate frames.

Elements We Don't Like

• While an aerial shot may seem helpful, it would most likely prove to be difficult to film and not have the intended effects.

• Colored lighting can look cool, but it is often pointless and not necessary.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Research: How to make a short film

 Writing Tips: 

• Keep the budget in mind before writing the script.

• Set up & pay off:

  The planning of something & it happening

            Ex: a woman not knowing how to use guns later she shoots the bad guy

• Always do the opposite of your first instinct (first instincts are predictable)

• Let theme guide your story (what comes next and how characters act)

Production:

• Note limitations on filming gear

• Be overly prepared (know the script, have storyboard)

• Understand tone (conventions should enhance it)

• Casting is significant (write to their strengths & weaknesses)

• Commit 100%

• SOUND!!! (Don’t write something dialogue-heavy if you can’t record good sounds)

• Feed crew

Post Production:

• Step away after a while to see it more clearly

• Pace yourself(watch with someone else)

• Sound effects( Soundly)

• Music (Flimstro)

• Get & give notes

• If you can’t pull it off, don’t do it!

We know this research will help us to create an amazing short film. We’re going to use the tips given to us to ensure our pitch will go in a feasible direction when we are filing and writing the script within our very limited budget. We also will use the editing techniques we researched to ensure that our film looks as clean as possible and comes together in a smooth manner. 

Comparing La Jetee, the short, and 12 Monkeys, the full-length movie

 Overall the video was fascinating. La Jette offers an interesting type of film, similar to a modern music video that we did last year. It pieces clips of film together to tell a story. But there is no actual film; it's all photographs. On the other hand, 12 monkeys follow the traditional conventions of a movie with a heavy focus on voice-over narration. The two films share the same storyline and concept but are executed with very different visual aspects. 

We appreciated the video's take that 12 monkeys were taken as a remodel, not a remake which can tend to come with a negative connotation. From the video, we were also intrigued by their focus on La Jette's editing style. For example, they used different techniques to convey the story, but how the 12 monkeys conveyed the same story differently. 

Our biggest takeaway was how in the film La Jette the audio in a scene would be simple and undertoned yet helped to convey the emotions the director was attempting to showcase. Our other takeaway is how the movie also used crossfades and dissolves to create a dream-like aspect. We plan to use these techniques in our film to add depth to our short film, specifically the audio methods. We want to add simple sounds that convey emotion without being direct. 

Overall this article was intriguing because it describes how the two different time periods and directing styles can convey the same storyline in opposite ways. For example, Chris Marker, director of La Jetee, was limited to the technology of his time, yet he chose to use black and white images, bringing them to life through the narrator and music. Yet, Terry Gilliam, director of 12 Monkeys, has access to many modern-day techniques and chooses to use upbeat music and many wide pans in his movie, conveying a large amount of motion on the complete other ends of Marker's film.

It'll help us in the filmmaking process. After researching the two styles, we can pull the director's techniques to help create the vision we wish to execute. We can use Marker's music technique and Gilliam's use of wide camera angles.

Comparing 9, the short, and 9, the full-length movie

Short film:  The first thing we noticed was the quality of the film. It’s almost as if you’re filming with a camera whose lens is dirty. The poor quality, paired with the low lighting, was almost hard to watch. It was hard to see the characters at times, especially since they were carrying around a mere bulb they took from a lamp, and the sun was never out. The lighting goes with the genre, but it’s hard to understand what you can’t see. The film is also quite confusing on its own. The story follows a rag doll,9, at what appears to be the end of the world. A metal monster with one glowing green eye seems to want the souls of the rag dolls. During the short film, we don’t actually find out who the monster is and why it wants nine dead. Despite being made of cloth, the rag dolls seem to have a lot of emotion on their face. When five is killed, nine looks devastated and can be seen sulking, looking at the last thing he got from five not long after. Despite being a shorter film, it still has a good amount of media conventions. There were clips filmed at low angles to depict how tiny nine is compared to the world or how small he felt compared to the monster. There were panning shots to show him running away too. There was also a panning shot where the camera rose from a low angle to higher up the monster’s back, where it showed the cloth from five on him shortly after he defeated him and took his soul. Regarding the mis-en-scene, the characters didn’t wear clothes as they were rag dolls, so the directors focused on the background instead. There were a lot of old broken items, like a huge doll whose face appeared cracked, and items discarded in random areas, like the umbrella opened upside down. Almost all buildings were destroyed, and the sky looked murky and foggy to enhance the apocalyptic aspect. The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds were ominous from the start, with the film opening with an eerie-sounding background track adding in diegetic sounds such as the hammer clicking or the monster walking louder than the music to create more or a freight aspect. Lastly, we had the transition animations. Other than the quality, this is how you could tell it was a short film. The transitions were poor, resembling that of a PowerPoint presentation. There were some good ones, however, such as the clip where nine was cleaning the gadget in the beginning, and it flashes as if the light next to him flashes and pans from the gadget to his eyes to an extreme close-up and switched to a flashback of the first time five gave him the gadget. Overall this short film was not the best. The quality and transitions were poor, and the audience was barely given any context as to what was happening, so it was confusing.

Full-length film: We immediately noticed the huge improvement in camera quality compared to the short film. The characters are much better drawn, making them way more visible. There’s also a wider range of characters. In the short film, we only saw all the Stitchpunks at the very end, but in the full-length, we see them all pretty early on. We finally see the scientist who created them. The full-length film is more detailed, giving us the full history of the dolls. We see why nine was created, who and where the others were, what caused the mass robot takeover, and what the glowing mystery device was. We also see the conflict between the Stitchpunks and the robots and between the Stitchpunks and each other. This developed the backstory of why five and nine were close while the others were absent from the plot. The full-length movie had relatively the same camera angles as the short film. It did, however, have more overall conventions. Regarding mis-en-scene, while not all the ragdolls were dressed, they had something significant to them. Number one wore a cape and a huge hat to assert dominance or dub himself the leader, with number eight being the personal guard. Number eight was bigger and had a huge sword. Number six had the paintbrush and psychic powers, which made him a little strange. Overall, the full-length film is much better. Due to the budget increase, new equipment, and new directors, the potential of the film increased, making it better than the short film. 

Comparison: The quality of the full-length film is much better than the short film. We could see the characters clearly, and the background didn’t look blurry. The full-length film was also much more detailed. The short film only gave us a piece of the plot, whereas the full-length film gave us the full history of the dolls, including how they came to be, why the world looks the way it does, and what the little trinket they carried was and why they were fighting metal creatures. The short film started towards the end of the conflict, almost as if it only showed the movie’s last few minutes. Since it didn’t introduce the conflict at all, it was more intriguing as it kept the viewers wondering what was happening. The problem with this is that the storyline was hard to follow because the viewers had no idea why nine was in what looked like a junkyard and why he was being targeted by a soul-sucking robot creature. Overall, the full-length movie was better because it’s more detailed, the better quality looked more professional, and it had a wider range of camera angles, locations, characters, and other media conventions. There was a bigger budget for the full-length film, so they had more filming and editing equipment, which is why they could do higher or lower angles and make the transitions smoother. 

The Verdict Is In!

 After carefully researching the thriller, adventure, and drama genres, we’ve finally come to a consensus. 

We strongly considered the thriller genre. Films in the thriller genre usually produce heightened suspense, surprise, and anticipation. In our pitch, the characters must journey through the Las Olas area in search of a fortune lost for years. This will prove exciting, and as it is a treasure hunt, we’ll surely encounter surprise obstacles and plot twists along the way. Still, thrillers build up rather slowly, and we only have 5 minutes to work with. This might not be enough time to convey such a complex genre. Thrillers also require a lot of emotional investment, so if our actors aren’t committed enough to the role, it simply wouldn’t be a good production. Our actors have a lot to balance between school and extracurricular activities, so we don’t want to add extra to their plates.

Our pitch wouldn’t make a very good drama film. The conventions differ too much from the story idea and would be off-putting to the viewers. Yes, we could use some elements of drama but overall, it wouldn't be right to categorize it as such. To make a good drama film, you need really talented actors. I have all the faith in our actors, but the film would be too unrealistic without the proper training and emotional range. Also, changing our story to be more dramatic would be less exciting. One element of a drama film we can use is the voiceover. Usually, a voiceover introduces the characters and tells the viewers what is happening in their heads. As our characters are preoccupied with treasure hunting, it’d be helpful to have a voiceover telling the viewers what they think as it is happening and how they feel. Still, this is just one of the many features needed to perfect our film, and the drama genre simply doesn’t check all our boxes.

Our third and final genre, and the one we chose to go with, is the adventure genre. The adventure genre offers excitement that will leave you at the edge of your seats, danger, tension, a race against time, a lovable protagonist, and of course, an incredibly long but worthwhile journey. Adventure movies are always popular because they transport the viewers into a different part of the world where they can experience the excitement that’s not there in the real world. We chose the genre that’d be the most exciting to film but also the most convenient. It gives you all the perks of a thriller and more without the complexity of making one. It also provides a wide range of camera angles, from mid shots to dutch shots, and the mise-en-scene will be easy to incorporate because an adventure outfit can be almost anything in your closet. Overall, the most calculated decision was an adventure film. 

Genre Research: Drama

Common camera angles in drama films are usually close-up shots to capture the actor's emotions. Long shots are where the actor/ object is usually centered, and all the attention is on them. Over-shoulder shots usually happen when a character is having a conversation and show the emotions on the person's face. An extreme close-up shows the intensity that is going on in that particular scene. Many drama movies are edited so that the main characters' face is one of the first things you see. It also has lots of POV shots; it shows the character's face then what they are seeing, and it switches back and forth between each view. When it comes to sound, many films have diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Diegetic sounds are sounds that happen inside the world of the story, while on the other hand, non-diegetic sounds are sounds that take place outside of the story. They also use lots of voiceovers to give information about the characters and a little back story about them. The voiceovers usually narrate what's going on in the film before introducing the main characters. Incidental music is also used to add emotion and rhythm to the drama. Sometimes they add this music to link the scenes together; they may add the same sound when an individual character comes on.  

1) 21 Bridges (2019)

2)Five feet apart (2019) 

We like the use of sound to create a certain feeling and emotion. If we were to use anything, it would be that. One element that does not appeal to us is the POV shots because the drama does not align with our pitch.