PLANNING: TRELLO UPDATE 1

I have been updating my Trello and completing tasks that I have to do for my course. It has helped me to keep track of tasks and stay organised. Below shows a screen shot of the progress I have made so far which is shown within the list on my Trello. To go to my live trello please click below.

RESEARCH: DIRECTORS LABEL & CINEMA16

Cinema16 
Cinema16 is a small British DVD company who release "classic & award winning short films on DVD". 

Their compilations released include short films from famous directors including Ridley Scot, Tim Burton , Mark Leigh and George Lucas. Cinema16 also features work created by less well known directors. As well as this, their films also feature commentary tracks (usually by the director). 

Cinema16 have so far released five DVDs which include a total of 68 short films by 67 directors :

• British Short Films 
• European Short Films
• US Edition of European Short Films 
• American Short Films
• World Short Films

Directors Label

Directors Label is a series of DVDs that showcase the work of various directors of short films, music videos and video art. It was first released in 2003 by  Palm Pictures and the series was created by directors Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry who are the subjects of the first three volumes. Short films are often showcased at film festivals howeverDVD's are considerably better as they can be viewed repeatedly. They are often considered as better platform than film festivals. 

websites 

cinema16 official site: http://www.cinema16.org/home.php
cinema16 information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema16
directors label information source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directors_Label

RESEARCH: SHORT FILM FESTIVALS

Short film’s are often screened in film festivals. Examples of film festivals include:

Sundance Film Festival

• Sundance Film Festival (January 22 - february 1st, 2015) is an American film festival taking place annually in Utah
• began in Salt Lake City in August 1978

• In 2012 46,731 people attended the festival 

• It's one of the largest independent film festivals in the United States

• The Sundance festival enable people to access videos online

• The festival enables new directors to showcase their work both at a festival and online where videos are often very successfully shared 

• short films are helpful for people who create short films as a promotional method, for example, for the purpose of charity events  

• the festival encourages people to watch short films both at the festival and online through "Netflix" and also through "YouTube" where trailer's and clips of film's are featured 

Funders:

RESEARCH: LIFE IN A DAY (2011 FILM)

Why we looked at the film "Life in a Day":

I have looked at the film "Life in a Day" as it is a part of our research into the genres of short film. I have been looking at the video from an artistic and institutional point of view. 

About the film:

The film is an example of crowdsourced drama/documentary film meaning that it was made from a collection of video clips made by the general public from all around the world on a single day. The duration of the film is 94 minutes and 53 seconds long. It was directed by Kevin Macdonald and  debuted at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27th, 2011. The premier was streamed live on youtube; on october 31, 2011, YouTube announced that the full length film would be available for free on their website as well as on DVD. Therefore the film's distribution methods would be considered unconventional. Film posters were used to advertise to a larger audience which demonstrates a conventional method.  

Ridley scott

[Example of close ups used in
the film]

[Example of low shot as well as
 handheld/phone camera used in
the film] 

• Scott was responsible for the editing of the film 
• close ups were very common as well as low shots and use of relections and mirror shots.
•  The quality of the footage suggests that a lot of filming was handheld - many were likely to be using mobile phones. 
• Scott has also included lots of cuts within the film including match cuts as well as the used of pull focus 
• scott's editing has established the scene and the mood - when the viewer's see poverty the sound used is upbeat or hopeful 
• Scott's work was based around a particular structure. This structure was that the film would show a full day from dawn to dusk. 
• Scott used a lot of speeded up filming which has established the scenes such as can be seen below:

[Speeded up filming/editing is shown above as the clouds clear gradually in these shots]

Convergence 

• The film demonstrated convergence. This is the coming together of varying software/technology -  we no longer just consume, we are considered producers as well. This shows the technological development of the modern day. Web 2.0 enables this as a more updated and organised version of the world wide web. 
• The film would not have bee possible 10 years ago or do as people had neither the knowledge nor the technology to create there own footage for this sort of project. 
• The film "couldn't have been made without technology. Ten years ago it wou;'ve been impossible" (Joe Walker, date July 29th 2011)  
• Michael Wesch highlights how he refers to this as "participatory culture" which is explained in a youtube video entitled "We are all producers" another example of a crowd sourced film:

Screenshots from the video: "We are all producers"

Websites:
Joe Walker - "Life in a Day Distills 4,500 Hours of Intimate Video Into Urgent Documentary" (WebCite archive),
Michael Wesch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B73hbpeJXFs 

PLANNING: OUR SHOT LIST

Below shows our final storyboard which we have worked on since creating a rough storyboard/shot list. It will be helpful in organising our group and keeping track of what is required for our film. It demonstrates each separate scene that we will be filming as well as props, actors and we have also included notes with extra relevant information such as camera shots. 

A2 ADVANCED PRODUCTION SHORT FILM SHOT LIST

CHECK OUT

SOUND	VISION	ACTORS	PROPS	NOTES
	A woman goes into a library and she is searching the romance area which makes it clear that she is interested in the topic.	Agatha	Library Sign	Tracking shot
Dialogue:”some people are so rude” to the nice guy	As she is queuing someone nudges her rudely.	Agatha, Amber	The Notebook	Hand held camera (audience gets knocked with it)
“do you want a loyalty card”to show that she has a reason to come back to the same library	Gets served by nice guy	Bryn	Loyalty Card The Notebook	Over the shoulder Shot Reverse Shot
	Reads the book fast which suggests that she is eager to go back to the library to see this boy.	Agatha	Clock The Notebook	Establishing shot Wide Shot 360 camera movement showing morning till night
	Goes back to find sticky notes at the library and follows them around. Each one has a different compliment on them.	Bryn, Agatha	Sticky Notes	Tracking shot as she searches for the sticky notes around the library
“got my notes I see”	Checkouts her book by player	Player	Romeo and Juliet	Over the shoulder Close up of her holding Romeo and Juliet
	She agrees to date him	Agatha, Player
	Shows her speaking to a friend about the player	Agatha	Phone Makeup Jewellery	Reflection in the mirror; getting ready.
	Camera shows player checking other people out at the restaurant	Agatha, Gina	Restaurant and restaurant food etc	Pull of focus from the girl to the waitress
	Goes back to library and picks up sticky note	Agatha	Sticky Notes
	Sees player with another girl	Agatha, Amber		Tilt up
	Drops sticky note	Agatha	Sticky Note	Slow motion of sticky note falling
	Both her and nice buy bend down to get her sticky note together and touch hands	Agatha, Bryn	Sticky Note
“I see you got my sticky notes”says Bryn	Clap eyes	Agatha, Bryn	Sticky Note	Close up

RESEARCH: WHAT ARE SHORT FILMS?

WHAT ARE SHORT FILMS? | Piktochart Infographic Editor

PLANNING: TRELLO

I have begun using Trello as a way to organise my work and keep track of work that I have done and still have to do. It is useful as it enables me to make lists which I can drag and drop so that events can be moved to a list that shows I have completed it. It's a great way for me to measure my progress and stay organised. Below shows a screen shot of my to do list for my A2 course and I will post updates to show my progress. Please click below for the live link of my trello:

https://trello.com/b/fdtC00ba/a2-blog-to-do-list

PLANNING: ROUGH STORYBOARD

Today we created an idea for our short film. We created a rough outline for a storyboard and we have entitled our film "checkout". In order to create a final storyboard with more detail we felt it was important to create a first draft that would help us establish the basic outline for our film. We are also able to consider who and what should feature in the film using this plan. Our group has therefore been able to start thinking about props and camera shots early on so that we can begin to develop this idea and improve it. We've managed to create a plan that has demonstrated key characters, a plot twist and an ending. Below are photos of my rough plan for our film: