Ok, so, I decided on what story I'm picking for this short film. After consideration, I decided to choose the gangster story. Why?, you may ask. It is my last project in high school, my last Media Studies film. Why not do something daring and large?. If executed well, this short film will be one I submit to film festivals and I would watch it over and over again for years to come.
With the other story, it wouldn't have been as grand as this one could be, and last year, my film opening (JIM) would've shared a similar tone and character to the short film I would've been creating this year. After all, and this is probably the main reason, I really want to play a leading man gangster who conducts illegal operations, I'm such a huge Peaky Blinders fan that if I were to act in a role similar to those characters, it would be a dream.
My Film Opening (JIM) for Media Studies AS
Now on the color scheme of my production, I want to create an aggressive, passionate, and chaotic color scheme, at least for the poster and title of my production. My poster should indicate the general tone and story of short film. I have two other posters from highly acclaimed films, if I could culminate those two and get elements of both posters into one, it would be perfect.
The simplicity of GoodFellas, engulfed with the chaoticness of Babylon, is what I want to go for. Also, I will most likely use a shot from the film itself as the key art or even the main poster, as I feel that approach is the most effective.
For the title design, I aim to do something in the lines of black and white or black and red, as it gives off that aggressive, violent, dark feel. Here's an example of two highly successful gangster movies in which I would attempt to garner something similiar.
The poster from Scarface would be something I would consider going for.
Hey!, so it's been some time since I wrote on this blog. I actually had a trip to India for my cousin's wedding. I didn't have WIFI for a few days and some of the other days I was hung up on the festivities of the event, you see Hindu Weddings are non-stop events for 4-5 days straight, it's quite a lot. Additionally, I traveled to the city of Delhi and went to remarkable architectural works such as the Lotus Temple, The Red Fort, and the Akshardham Temple. I admit that I've been slightly lacking in my blog posting schedule and that now I should get back on it: so here I am.
Recently, I have been thinking of some potential alternatives to my idea. I do feel as if my teacher may feel a bit skeptical about the scale of my production and possibly the content as well, so I have been thinking of changing the story completely.
For starters, I am a very big theater kid. I am constantly spending my free time rehearsing for shows or for my own pieces, as a matter of fact, I will also be pursuing a theatre degree in college. A few years ago, there was this monologue that I performed for a competition. The play "Prodigal Son" by John Patrick Shanley, the play revolves around a high school boy who has dreams of achieving greatness but due to his academic mishaps and troubling behavior, that dream looks very unlikely. In this monologue, he expresses his frustrations and sadness to a principal who shames him for the kid he is and attempts to flunk him so he can't graduate. The monologue is quite powerful as it reflects themes such as Innocence, Misunderstanding of Young Adults, and mentorship.
Why I'm saying this because I had an idea that my short film could be an adaption of parts of this play, and communicate themes and ideas that the scenes from the story display. It won't be a direct adaption, as I would change many lines and possibly character situations as well but similar ideas would be portrayed.
This is the off-broadway performance of the monologue I was referring to. My short film may just revolve around this story.
For the ending of this film, I intend to be quite tragic, but in a way that communicates a message or a feeling of possible shock and understanding from the audience.
One of the main themes of my film will be the dangers of involving oneself in such businesses, the dark side and engaging in almost criminal acts, and how horrifying the repercussions can be. The business my character lives in is essentially a gangster-type company. I haven't decided on what type of goods and services this company deals with or what products they illegally manufacture and sell, but their company will be illegally involved. I still am unclear on what the core (middle) of the story will be, but I have the beginning and ending pretty much wrapped up. The character starts realizing the cruelty of his business sometime in the middle of the film, and by the end, his secretary will inform him of the harsh truth of the circumstance he's in, how business is falling apart, and how his reputation in this illegal industry will begin to fade and ultimately become meaningless in a year or two's time.
Here's a scene from Babylon, in this situation, Jack Conrad is a man whose Hollywood career is draining, and now a newspaper writer shares the brutal truth of his status and how his career is now dead and that he'll live among the films for centuries to come. Again, my content will not be similar to this, but the style and tone should have commonalities.
My character's main purpose is his status as a leader in this industry, and now when he sees how this expenditure has harmed the lives of those close to him as well as ruined his own identity. He'll start to gather a sense of the fact that his life was wasted doing something that's ultimately caused nothing but harm to his close ones and destruction of his morality and being.
For the tragic end and the closing of the short film, I do plan for my protagonist to either embark on a new lifestyle or perhaps end himself off by means of suicide. The latter will be much more demeaning but the purpose of the film could be clearly communicated, and if I do the first one, it could change the purpose of the entire film and show how man could move on, even after undergoing terrible circumstances of life.
Ok, so for now, I have two pretty solid ideas for opening and closing the film.
Firstly, I plan to go on a gangster genre route, a dramedy element will be very prominent as well. How I plan to open the film will be a long tracking shot of my main character entering his "office" or warehouse, and the shot would be induced with absolute chaos, I plan to have my cast members fighting each other, drinking, cursing, etc. I want to create that no-order, chaotic gangster vibe just from the first few seconds, so my audience can gather a gist of the world the character lives in. Toward the end of the tracking shot, the main character will pull out his gun and start shooting bullets in the air in order the garner the gang members' attention. From then on, he'll address them all with a grandeur, over-the-top monologue about how they're meant to act, the problems, and things they have to deal with revolving around their business. I'm unsure of the monologue's exact wording as I have yet to begin screenwriting it, but it should be along the lines of these ideas.
This is a scene from Peaky Blinders, in which Thomas Shelby (the protagonist) addresses his fellow blinders on how to act in front of his future wife's family. My opening will not be like this in content, but I aim for it to have a similar directing style and tone. Around the same amount of cast members will be present as well, but with a higher sense of chaos and ugliness.
Week One- -decide genre -think about story details -begin developing characters -watch short films (any genre)
Week Two: -watch short films (decided film genre) -contact actors -continue to develop characters -continue to develop story
Week Three: -start screenwriting -think about potential postcard designs -start to develop a plot structure -more assure of story and characters, continue research of how short films execute this
Week Four: -start storyboarding and potentially shot list -have a gist of how the story will end and start -think about the thematic implications of the story and what you want to communicate -messages, societal commentary -potential social media campaign
Week Five: -finalize story and plot -finish up storyboarding and screenplay -craft up a shooting schedule and potential locations to film -do more postcard research
Week Six: -start production, filming -finalize locations -try to get a good amount of shots done
Week Seven: -watch more accredited short films in the genre to make sure I'm on the right track -start editing clips you've got -finalize the general design and outlook of production, including key art
Week Eight: -finish filming -finalize all production work -make sure to have all footage necessary -finalize postcard design
Week Nine: -attach the clips from filming and finish up the editing -decide what music to use -finalize edits and have the film ready -start final reflective comments
Week Ten: -create final, critical reflection -post project components to the blog -say goodbye.
Hello! I'm back on the blog yet again, last time was the documentary project and now it's time for the big deal: the portfolio project.
Firstly, I'll discuss what the transition has been like since I've joined the A Level class. Our teacher definitely has an understanding of what we've learned last year and now we've moved on to more societal and self-discovery topics such as Postmodernism and Brand Identity. We've also explored the concepts of documentaries and movie trailers and made our own.
Throughout the learning process, we've been taught these subjects via presentations, lectures, and media examples of the certain topic we're studying. It's been a great experience, for me, it doesn't top AS level for me personally, since I believe that the topics we studied and the way we discussed certain media was mind-blowing. I thought I knew much of the class beforehand (which I did), but the class still exposed me to elements I never much appreciated or sought attention to, and even made me think about societal implications more intricately.
However, A Level has also been quite revealing, especially the Postmodernism discussions, which taught me much about how media has changed from time to time and how narratives have been constructed.
For the portfolio project, I will be doing a short film, I'm aiming to create a story that involves great, depthful characters but also has a comedic and dramatic sense to it. In short, I want to make the film almost like a Peaky Blinders X Wolf of Wall Street X Babylon all into one.
Sounds ambitious, but I think I could pull it off. Obviously, the story could change from now up to Mid March or later this month but it's the general premise of the production.
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