Pre-writing nearing complesion moving onto the script.

Today was a very informing day I’ve now got all the information I need in order to start writing my script for the meeting. But there are so many decisions to be made before I start. For example I need to decide whether to use the two or three act structure. Happily having done the recommended pre-writing tasks I am very secure with my story and characters’ I even have some shots that I know I what to shoot, however writing a script still feels like a very daunting task ten pages may not be a lot but having to put all the little tricks of the trade that I’ve learnt over the past couple of weeks into my script my prove more difficult than I would have anticipated. Anyway I’ll keep you updated with how it goes.

On another note during my tutorial with Simon the other day he asked me to upload a link to my YouTube account as I wasn’t interviewed by him and he wanted to see some of my previous stuff. So here you go Simon. Has anyone else got a YouTube account with some of your own created videos? I’d like to see what other people have done in the past.

        

First draft of 'the meeting' synopsis

After a number of tweaks I finally finished my first draft of my synopsis for the meeting so here it is.

Playing football with friends after school on a spring day was a regular occurrence in the young life of Luke Wood. Having played for an hour or so he would walk home with his little buddy James laughing and joking along the way. That was the typical, enjoyable and invariably safe routine that had never given rise to a problem before. But one day James didn’t come into school and Luke’s routine went out of the window with potentially disastrous consequences. A gap in the fence surrounding an abandoned factory was too tempting for the youngster to resist, particularly as the goods yard would make an ideal football pitch. A powerful kick of his football, however, which sent it hurtling into the sky and come to rest on a roof top, was the first step in a chain of events that would lead him into terrible danger. Making the decision to climb up onto the roof top of the run down factory building the naive boy would not realise the consequences of his actions until it was too late. When stepping on an old and rotten wooden cover that lay on top of the factory roof it suddenly gives way sending him plunging from the safety and light of the outside world to the dark, threatening abyss that lies below. Meanwhile his mother begins to worry when her little boy doesn’t return home and sends her other older son, Jack, to look for him. Knowing the route his brother usually took home it doesn’t take long for him to find the school bag Luke has left just inside the fence. A build up of gas which has leaked into the factory from adjacent cylinders adds an extra dimension to Luke’s predicament. Conscious but unable to see or move the terrified little boy has no idea how he will get back to safety and all he can do is cry out for help. From a distance Jack hears the faint cries of his brother and launches his self over the fence and runs toward the factory but before he gets there an explosion rips through the building causing parts of it to collapse. Jack calls 999 not knowing if his brother is hurt or worse. The everyday hero’s of the Fire and Rescue Service jump into action. It’s a race against time to locate and reach Luke in this unstable building. Will it be time for Luke to meet his maker? Will the fire fighters be able to save him from an untimely death? Will Luke meet salvation or will the fire fighters meet defeat?

What you think? Any ideas on how I can improve it?

First draft of 'the meeting' PItch

I have to admit I have found writing this pitch very difficult to convey the amount of tension and drama in 25 words is close to impossible, but here's what I came up with.  

A race against time as the fire services’ finest fight to save a trapped boy’s life, this meeting will change the course of lives forever.  

What you think? Any ideas on how I can improve it?

PAUL

What with having focused on SPACED earlier in the month and being a big fan of Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz anyway it seemed only fitting that I should go and see the newly released film Paul. The film stars the same comedy duo from the fore mentioned films Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who i think bring a totally inspired and original type of comedy to any film they’re in. After the film received a somewhat mixed review on the BBC’s Film 2011 program I was a little apprehensive with what I was going to be faced with when I got into my cinema seat. Although the style of the film was vastly different to the pair’s previous films largely due to two elements firstly the director of this film has a vastly different style of storytelling, secondly due to the location, director and a large amount of the cast the film became ‘Americanised’ with the comedy emulating that that wouldn’t be out of place in any generic American sit-com I still found myself investing in the characters and the story as a whole. On a purely media based note I’ve thought of a little game for anyone that going to go and see the film, try and keep track of how many science fiction movie and television references are used throughout the film. I went to see the film with and few of the other students from the course and the amount of times Fran and I turned to one another and gave a look like do you get that one during the showing and how many Jo and Matt were able to point out after it would seem as though there were literally dozens used to great effect. On a quick side note this is not e.t. there is swearing and sexual reverences throughout the film so if you were thinking about taking your kids to see the film I would really think again, this film really aimed and was intended for people in their later teens and there after. Anyway that’s pretty much all I have to say about Paul and I leave you with the encouragement that if you are thinking about going to see the film do it because you will leave smiling to yourself especially if you’re a bit of a loser like us and pick up on the sci-fi references.

Character Profile of Luke Wood

As I said in my previous blog entry I have two lead characters in mind but I'll only planning on using one. So here is the second character profile for my records.

Character Profile of Jack Wood

After finding out about the pre-writing stages of the pre-production stage yesterday I set about planning the most important element of any fictional drama production, the characters! I have two lead characters in mind but I know I only want to use one and as I'm not settled on which one that is I thought it wise to think about the elements that make up both. This mind map depicts the first possible contender Jack Wood.

And the alarm goes up... for the BAFTA awards and the meeting.

So tonight is the night of the Orange BATFA awards and as much as I would have loved to be up in London to stand alongside the red carpet to see the celebrities and film makers, well if I’m being totally honest I would rather be one of the film makers walking down it. But alas I could n't be one of them, well not yet anyway! I’ve been to work and now I remain at home thinking about the nominated films and daydreaming that one day it will be one of my films that all the news and review shows are saying that is the front runner to win all of the big awards. Until then I will just have to put my effort into my story telling unit and I guess I should start putting some thought into my essay project. 



My Grandfather who retired after
30 years with the fire service.



As for my story telling unit I have been thinking and focusing on one idea quite a lot. I’ve not quite worked out the ins and outs of the plot yet but it revolves around the meeting of a boy that is trapped and the hero’s of the fire service as they fight to save him. There are so many elements that and variables that I have been thinking about both from a creative point of view as well as having a practical and logical approach as some of the elements that I write in my script I’m going to have to recreate in my trailer. As the entire script is only going to be for a ten minute film beginning, middle and end the extravagant feature style film that I had originally envisioned is simply going to be too much for this project.

Having worked with the media team at Kent Fire and Rescue Service last summer and having strong family links with the fire service as my mother worked in the call room when I was growing up and my father still does and his father before him worked as fire fighters and fire officers I would love to portray the fire fighters as the hero’s that the men and women in that profession are. Anyway still lots of work to before I get close to having a working script or I even think about shooting but I am really looking forward to pushing ahead and exploring some of my ideas on this subject.

Spaced synopsis.

So have I got you interested with my pitch for Spaced? Yes! Well heres my synopsis to give you a bit more information.

Spaced is an innovative situation comedy that follows a group of likable yet bizarre characters living in the suburbs of North West London. When Tim an aspiring comic book artist and Daisy a fantasist supposedly on a path toward becoming a journalist first meet, they could not foresee how there casual meetings in a cafe would soon lead to them depending on each other in more ways than one. When the couple realise that they are both in need of a place to live the duo plan to acquire a simple and what turns out to be shabby apartment by teaming up. Applying under the pretence of being a professional couple the pair successfully attempt to convince the alcoholic, chain smoking and slightly loopy character Marsha to rent the apartment to them. Throughout the series the audience is also introduced to the best friends of the two protagonists. Mike the best friend of Tim is a strangely immature character that has a strange obsession with the military and is referred to as a ‘weapons expert’ if this is true or just an unfulfilled childhood ambition remains to be seen. Twist the companion of Daisy could be seen as a stereotypical dumb blonde in being ditzy and clumsy throughout the series yet being introduced as a character that works in fashion when in reality working in a laundrette, is she a deceiving character or simply self deluded? The final character prominent in this series is the man that rents the ‘apartment downstairs’ Brian. This character, a tormented artist with an alarming split personality, he seems somewhat socially incompetent when surrounded by the other characters and scarily serious and peculiar when alone creating his artwork focusing on the themes of pain, hurt and sorrow. With the remarkably rapid paced editing and use of an enormous array of shots within each scene is it clear that Spaced has pushed forward into a new and pioneering way of storytelling. By setting up their own rules the use of illustrated comic book inserts and imaginary gun battles the audience is subtlety convinced that they are being shown a world that is fully believable and yet totally paradoxical to any form of reality that they would have been subject to before.  Thankfully through the new forms of narrative along with the hilarious comedic aspects so the show the writers have managed to depict a compelling portrayal of emotional growth of the relationships, friendships and independent growth of both Tim and Daisy whilst continuing the use of self contained stories and multiple story arcs in each of the episodes of the two series’.

436 Words

Spaced The Pitch

It’s a hard life when you’re a student. After a long weekend of working hard having to pull yourself out of bed on Monday morning isn’t the most appealing of prospects. But when I finally got myself down to the studios and had a cup of tea I was ready for any arduous task that I could be faced with and what a demanding task it was. I was ordered on pain of death to sit myself down in front of the television and watch two episodes of the sit-com Spaced I know terrible right! Spaced isn’t something I’ve watched before but being a fan of Shaun of the dead and Hot Fuzz I was quietly optimistic that it was going to be a very enjoyable show to watch. My optimism was well founded as the snappy comedy was very much like that that I had enjoyed in the fore mentioned films. After watching these two episodes one from the first series and another from the second we discussed some of the many elements that made up the show, a personal favourite being that although the cast and characters were the same the development of relationship and friendships were vast. Within these discussions we also covered elements regarding the plot, themes settings and genre. Out of these discussions we created a long list of words that described each of these components and from that list we would go on to write a pitch as if we was going to pitch the idea of Spaced ourselves. For those of you that don’t know a pitch is a very short and when I say short I mean it 25 words to be precise to sell your idea so that someone may actually want to know more and eventually end up making the movie or television show that you are pitching to them. Anyway here is what I came up with ‘Spaced! A surreal sit-com which follows the relationships of twenty something friends, as their seemingly ordinary lived are impacted by other characters with humours consequences.’ This task was a lot harder than it sounded selecting with components from our list described my view of the program as well as making everything I wanted to say fit within 25 words.

I also wrote a pitch for my favourite television program it’s very obvious but see how quick you can work it out.

‘We follow the young Clark Kent as he discovers his powers and begins his journey from small town farm boy to the legendary man of steal’. Any ideas what I'm pitching?

Lets have a meeting about 'the meeting'

I have started thinking about the different narratives that I could pursue that revolve around the title 'the meeting'. Obviously the first thought that came to me was the predictable image of professional people sat round a table having some form of business meeting. This of course was far less than inspired so I continued to expand my ideas trying to think outside of the box so that my story telling unit would be individual don’t want to have the same idea as someone else on the course after all.

So has anyone else been thinking about their 'the meeting' project, anyone onto a winner?

Remaking an old movie can be lethal

It’s no secret that coming up with new and original ideas for movies it’s hard but should Hollywood just start remaking old movies and TV shows from years gone by? What with films such as fame, the karate kid and the A-team getting the remake treatment in the last couple of years I start to worry that some remakes that shouldn’t be remade will! Even those that I believe won’t be able to live up to, let alone be better than the great original films. This comes after I found out that Warner Bros have unveiled a list of movies that they are considering to remake or revitalise with one of my personal favourite movies Lethal Weapon being the current favourite to be made. With script writer Will Beall reportedly having been commissioned to write a new script for the film the signs appear promising but nothing is certain in show business. It’s not yet clear from the internet reports I have found on the subject whether this story will follow a new Riggs and Murtaugh or whether it will just simply be just another buddy cop movie taking the name of the great lethal weapon franchise. What is clear is that the rumours previously floating about regarding a lethal weapon 5 is dead in the water and should this new lethal weapon movie make it to the big screen Mel Gibson and Danny Glover won’t be reviving the iconic roles. As a fan of this series of films I wouldn’t want to see the films or characters carry on without all of the original cast members along with the director of the previous four films Richard Donner. Are there any films you’ve heard of that are getting remade that you feel should be left well alone? Or are there any good old films that could do with being brought into the 21^st century? Let me know your favourites and if you know any you think I should watch.

First shoot... and that a wrap

Today was the day that I along with Ze and Hennie shot the short film ‘A day in the life of a security guard’ that I disclosed our plans for in a previous blog entry. I did enjoy finally having the opportunity to get to grips with a video camera that would be totally fitting in any professional television production as well as working alongside two people that also have a keen interest in the media industry. However after our technological introduction into the workings of these cameras we were sent off to commence shooting our short films. It was at this point that we came up against frequent obstacles that ultimately corrupted the plans that I had previously been determined to create for the viewing audiences’ enjoyment. Due to having to drastically modify the remaining elements because of these recurring obstacles the largest of which being that the security desk at the reception of the Maidstone studios which we had planned to film around 60% of the short film was not available for our use damaged the foundation that our narrative was based. Due to having to pull ideas together in order to salvage as much of our original plans as possible the final result was far less than that I had envisioned in my mind’s eye previously. However upon presenting that which we managed to pull together during the few hours that we had to film our short film the final result was not as bad as it could have been and I am ultimately happy in the way we didn’t panic and attempted to work around the difficulties we faced throughout the day. When it came time to present the product to my peers I was readily awaiting the criticism which I would have given myself if it hadn’t been my work along with a suppressing a few compliments which were much appreciated.  

Point of view

After discussing and agreeing to experiment with a projection completely shot using point of view shots yesterday with Ze and Hennie I decided to take a short amount of time to look at other productions shot using this technique. These are some screen shots or images that I have found presenting images that we will emulate during our production tomorrow.

Sources:

Motor Bike:       http://www.redbubble.com/people/ma9rk/art/2333557-6-flight-of-the-6

A Mother:          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2nuFRmtBIo

Taking a test:    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UejWmvx1hR0

Holding hands:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2nuFRmtBIo

Wink:                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UejWmvx1hR0

A Glass:             http://www.photography.ca/Forums/f13/april-2010-photography-assignment-different-point-view-8429.html

And so it begins...

So I’ve taken the next step in my life towards the career that I want to end up in. I’ve only gone and started university at UCA. I’m doing a foundation degree in Broadcast Media and will be working out of the UCA Maidstone campus and the Maidstone television studios. So this brand new blog is my way of tracking and having a digital record of my work to look back on as and when I need to.

Although it’s been somewhat slow to start what with tours and health and safety talks we’ve now been given two projects to get our teeth stuck into. For the first I have been instructed to work alongside Ze and Hennie. Unlike previous projects that I have undertaken outside of the University environment where the main goal was to have a rendered seamless video by the end this appears to be intended as a thought provoking exercise. Deliberately used to make us think about camera techniques such as angles and shot types that we’re going to use with professional HD Sony cameras. The brief for this task outlined a number of requirements and restrictions that must be met in this task. Mainly the following, the title must include the work ‘Life’, it must run as close to 3 minutes as possible, the locations we’re allowed to use are internal and exterior grounds of the Maidstone studios (where we have access) all of these requirements would be seeming normal nothing to get worked up about right? Wrong! The biggest obstacle to manoeuvre is that we are not allowed to do any post production at all. Meaning that every scene has to be shot in chronological sequence something that I’ve spent time learning how not to do.

So today after a night of individually thinking up ideas for this project Ze, Hennie and I discussed our various suggestions. After our discussion we decided to run with Ze’s idea which followed a shift of a security guard at the Maidstone studios. Due to the fact that everything has to be shot in sequence we sat down and planned out a step by step list of the events that will unfold in our three minute production. Unlike all other productions we have agreed to experiment using exclusively POV shots throughout the entire three minute production.

00.00-00.30:- Security guard closes the car door

                    - The title ‘A day in the life of a security guard’ is in the window

                    - walks to the studio entrance

00.30-00.50:- Greets and then changes places with the security guard on shift

00.50-01.10:- Security guard is sat in the booth

                    - A few employees hand there passes back and leave the building

                    - Puts his legs on the table

                    - Looks down

01.10-01.30:- Looks at watch

                    - Puts pass down

                    - Falls asleep

01.30-01.40:- Snoring

01.40-01.45:- Looks at watch

                    - Starts to fall asleep again

       

01.45-01.50:- Scream

01.50-02.15:- Walking along corridors

02.15-02.30:- Walks into a small dark room

                    - Using torch

                    - Heavy breathing

                    - Loud Smack

02.30-02.35:- Falls to the ground

02.35-02.45:- Attacker walking away

02.45-03.00:- Credits

It remains to be seen how well we can pull of this idea off but I look forward to seeing how the three of us work as a team and if the point of view throughout will result in the audience feeling connected to the character due to seeing everything the character sees or whether the audience will be left bored due to the unconventional technique.

The second project that I have been given information on is the story telling unit, the first gradable piece of coursework of the semester. I am yet to start any substantial plans for this unit of work but I look forward coming up with some kind of exciting and hopefully original story around the title ‘the meeting’.