LO1: Treatment

You will now select one idea to develop into a treatment for short film.  In it you will cover:

ü  The Film’s working title

ü  The film’s narrative/subject (if documentary)

ü  The Genre chosen to work in

ü  The characters/organisation/people

ü  A brief synopsis

ü  The required crew

ü  The required equipment

ü  A production schedule

ü  Suggested Locations

The working title of my short film will be called Ardens secret as this is the name of the main character of the short film and shows that the film is a myster/drama. The genre of this short film is drama/ mystery, the film is about Arden Winters, who has recently split with her long term boyfriend Kit Valentine without reason. So Kit and his best mate Evan go on a mission to find out what Ardens secret is. The required we would need to film this short film 'Ardens secret' would be Evie, Jess, Monique as we are the 3 making it and our required actors which we have Rosa, Eddie, Alex, Lorna, Noah and Alex. To be able to film our short film we will need a DSLR Canon camera, a tripod, a wireless microphone to film foley sounds etc, camera lighting and the props/ outfits needed for our actors.

 we have chosen to do a genre of Mystery for our short film however there is also going to be a sub-genre of Romance and this relates to Bary Keith Grant's, (1995) theory of all genres have sub genres and this is something that I agree with, evidently shown in. our short film. We have chosen to do a mystery because I think that this is a genre that is very gripping and a genre that will be able to catch the audience's attention. It may be classed as mystery because there is a lot of enigma within the music video, arguments that happen and the audience will be unsure why however it is then revealed in the end but could have been for multiple reason and this leaves the audience to use their imagination. 

Arden Winters- Rosa

Arden is the main character so she stands out from the rest of her friends, she is also quite mysterious therefore the audience will want to find out more about her


Kit Valentine- Eddie

Kit is Ardens now ex boyfriend, he is cool like Arden so he is clued up to why Arden broke up with him. Kit also plays the main charcter as this is why Arden has a secret 


Ivy Coleman- Lorna

Ivy is Ardens bestfriend, she is confused to why Arden broke up with Kit and doesn't know her secret either, so its up to them all to find out. Ardens character is quite dopey as she never understands whats going on


Evan Jones- Alex

Evan is Kits best friend, he is helping out Kit to find out what Ardens secret is without finding out too much which could ruin his relationship with Kit...

Initial ideas mindmap

Task 1: 5 Short films

Analyse 5 short films and write a brief analysis of how the film covers:


Narrative 

Characterisation

Editing

Visual effects 

Camera work



A sci fi short film "sight":

The narrative is about a man who imagines a world full of google glass inspired apps everywhere when in fact he has a boring lifestyle, he then goes on a date with a woman which is going good only because of google using other peoples thoughts in his head telling him what to do on the date, which then turns out bad when he invites her back to his apartment when she finds out he has a dating app on his wall this then leads him to control her thoughts so she forgets whats just happened and controls her thoughts. You learn that the characters for example the man is quite alarming as he has a unceasing feeling with him however the woman seems like she is quite chilled out and has a relaxing lifestyle unlike the protagonist. The editing used in this short film is mostly straight cuts as it is making it easier to understand, however then cross cutting was used switching back to reality without the google glass eyes which shows how his real life is extremely boring without them, this also makes the narrative easier to understand. The visual effects were used in this short film to show what the man was seeing this creates meaning for us as we know what the story line is about then. The shots used were usually a mid shot to focus on the main subject however still giving an impression of the surroundings.


A drama short film called "Room 8" 

The narrative is about a man who gets sent to prison and ends up being in a shoe box however he has no knowledge to this until half way through the story is, when he opens it he realises he is in the shoe box so he tries to escape however the other man who is locked up with seems to be the antagonist and lets him open the box acting like he is delusional to what will happen, as the prisoner escapes the antagonist gets him in a match box to put in his collection. You learn that the characters show they are quite opposite as the protagonist is trying to escape which shows he is eager, however the antogonist is reserved  as he is trying not to act suspicious as he works with the prison. The editing in this short film were mainly straight cuts because it is a slow paced film and this made the viewers understand the storyline easier. The visual effects used in Room 8 were having the a larger version of the main character for example when the puts his hand in the box it becomes larger and having the small matchboxes with the people in move around towards the end. The shots used in this short film were also medium shots as it is showing both characters in it usually however when just ones talking they use a lot of medium close ups.


A drama/thriller short film called "Crush" 

The narrative is about a girl who has a crush on this boy who she doesn't actually know, it ends up of her being creepy towards the boy by inviting him other to her house pretending to be someone's else, she then imagines the perfect date so the story starts off looking like it won't be a thriller however it then skips to real life as her "crush" tries to escape but then hits his heads and bleeds to death, she then lays with his dead body on the floor. The characters show that the girl was creepy as she printed a photo of his face and the boy was quite innocent as he knew nothing about what would happen.The editing in "crush" was cross cutting to real life and her imagination this shows that there a two things going on at the same time however it wasn't in real life. There wasn't many visual effects used because it was almost like a realistic drama however there was blood on his face when he died to show what the real life situation is because the story line was quite confusing.The camera work used in "Crush" was a lot of medium close up shots of both the girl and boys face this shows their emotions more clear, which helps the audience understand the narrative through expressions



A thriller short film called "The piano tuner"

The narrative of this short film is a man who auditioned for a piano  competition but unfortunate didn't get in after it being unsuccessful, he then decides to pretend to be blind because people will be nicer to him and he will get a better tip however it then escalates when he goes round to a couples house to tune their piano but the woman won't let him in at first because her husband isn't however then after she finds out he's blind she lets him in. He goes in the room and falls over her husbands dead body which she claimed was paint as she was decorating, she then inisits she will wash his clothes and give him some of her husbands. Shortly after he realises he left his agenda in his suit pocket (which he wouldnt need if hes blind)and she comes back standing behind him with a drill at the back of his head, the story is left on that so we dont know the full ending. From this short film we learn that the main character which is the piano tuner is quite brave for doing this, and the wife of the dead husband is a killer and therefore quite crazy as she doesnt mind killing another man. The editing in this film is slow paced as it is telling you more or a story than the other films and usually just uses straight cuts. Theres not many special effects as it is a drama/ thriller however there is fake blood on the husbands body which could be classed as a special effect. The camera shots used in 'The piano tuner' were mostly medium close ups and close ups to emphahsies what is going on and his contact to make him appear blind.



A comedy/ action short film called "Rope a dope"

The narrative of this short film is about a guy who relives the same 'groundhog day' cycle over and over, ending in a fight that knocks him out only to reawaken that same morning all over again.The fight starts from him spilling something on a gang members foot which influences the guy to punch him, as he learns to start defending him self due to knowing what the gang are going to do it makes him stronger and starts fighting/ defending lessons them without question.  You can tell from the characters that the protagonist seems fed up with life looking extremely tired at the beginning however as he relives the same day a couple times he suddenly becomes more alive and excited about the day ahead.The gang members however are looking for a fight throughout the whole film and seem keen to get into trouble. The editing is very fast cuts as it is a quick paced action film, it then cuts straight o him in bed again stopping the alarm after he losses every fight. There's not many visual effects as it is meant to be 'realistic' in just the normal world however when he starts fighting this is edited to make it look as if he getting better due to visual effects. The camera shots are mostly just wide shots to get there whole bodies in and a lot of group shots when hes fighting, a couple of medium close ups are used to emphasizes what they are going to do and there expression. Although there is no dialogue in this short film you can easily tell what is going on throughout it with fast paced music entering the scenes half way through as the fights start getting more intense