A fact

1 in 155 people work in London’s Square Mile.

Some thoughts under different point headings

These images show a written draft of the essay. It does not have an essay flow to it yet but this is simply the paragraphs and points under certain theory headings that I will include.

The last two images show my notes on amendments that need to be made to the wording and also some pointer on the flow of the essay.

Titles?

Thoughts for a title sequence:
Will start with the original candle opener, but after that, the first movement made, by the holder of the candle, will be to turn to the right. This will illuminate an empty desk. The plan for this shot is to use the technique in my first assignment with the crumble effect, and have the desk chipping away with the film title. Candle holder turns to the left where there is a unit/bookcase and the same thing happens with production name.

Storyboard

A thought that came from this and thinking about the editing afterward, each room could have a tint of the colour of the character. Or maybe just have that characters colour being particularly sharper than the rest. Just to make the colour stand out more and push the idea in the audiences mind.

Development: It’s All Just A Game

Visualising a few sequences has given me a basis to develop and create a full idea. With a dark and mysterious air already in mind I followed this theme and made a link with a ‘Cluedo’ related idea.
– Start with opening candle sequence and go with the idea of someone carrying the candle.
– Walk through into a lounge where there will be a red blanket/throw and a revolver on it. Follow this theme throughout the walk round of a house. So with every room entered there would be a new reference related to a character and weapon i.e. goes into study, green jacket on the chair and lead piping on the table.
– Then finishing with the final candle sequence.

‘Joy Division’ brings joy

Listening to some Joy Division and really listening to some of the background sounds, triggered the foundations of an idea. Visualising a strike of a match, close up. Lighting a candle, very close to the wick so that the detail of the wick burning can be seen. Someone holding a candle in a darkened room? Wax running down the candle?
I would like an ending that mirrored this idea possibly …
Focus back on candle, loud shot or scream heard, flame goes out and the shot is left with just the final glow of the wick as it goes out.
(NB: Find out the best way to film flame)

A struggle

Presentation is due to be made in the next lecture and I am having a creative block. Lots of paper spread around with random key words to try and give some inspiration.

New Beginning

After some more planning, research and general thought I have decided to scrap the idea of a traditional, retro, silent short. The reasoning for this is: firstly, to create a storyline that would work well would be a massive and time consuming process. My fear from this therefore being that my focus would some what be lost on other important areas of this process. Secondly, with a lack of sound and a question mark still over colour and look of the film, there seems to be a few too many areas where there could be huge issues. In short, I simply do not feel that I could produce my best work with this theme and genre of short film.

Research and first thoughts

The new film of 2012 ‘The Artist’ was one of the first thoughts that came to mind. To be able to create a short piece that had a retro, silent, black&white or saturated feel to it. The videos below illustrate the type of videos that I would like to mirror.

The effect with the narrative that I am hoping for, is a simple storyline that is, visually, easy to follow, but has a final twist to the story with the very last shots.

After further research I believe that doing a full black and white short with no dialogue would detract from the film and therefore reduce the engagement with the audience and dramatic impact. Here are some other ‘colour’ short films that I have looked at.

Drafting a intro and conclusion

These show my thoughts and quick draft intro and conclusion. I tend to have two intros, one giving an intro into the concept and ‘theory’ side of the essay and the other (which these images show) is an intro into the theme that the theory surrounds.