In our group we came up with ideas for short film, as a group we decided to pick two of the subjects below to base our film on. We believe that these would be the best option they are both good subjects to portray 'rite of passage'. The subject that was chosen was heartbreak. At first we considered prom as well but decided against it.
'Without a character you have no action, without action there is no conflict, without conflict there is no story' - Syd Field
Characters are the main focus , without a character there is nothing and the narrative reveals round the character.
What Makes a Good Character?
Next activity was to look at character development and why characters are important to a narrative.
Carnelle Scott
‘Carnelle Scott is young and beautiful and full of dreams and is feeling marooned in the Yazoo city, Mississippi. Her only way out is by winning the town’s beauty pageant on the Fourth of July. Carnelle Scott Successfully escapes from her home town by winning the beauty pageant’
Why would this ending not work?
This ending would not work as it is a fairytale ending and it is too predictable which makes it boring. This is because there is no character development and the story ends without having a moral.
Here are bullet points for an alternative ending for this story also the progression of the character Carnelle Scott and her back story.
-The only way Carnelle can be happy is to win the pageant.
-Her dad disagrees with beauty pageants as it reminds him to much of Carnelle’s mum who is dead. Also he does not want his daughter to become a sex symbol.
-To pay for the pageants Carnelle takes multiple jobs behind her dad’s back and to do this she has to drop out of college.
-Carnelle spoke to her godmother who used be in the pageants with her mother and the god mother agreed to help Carnelle with the pageant preparations. And she gives Carnelle her mums winning dress.
-Carnelle’s dad finds out and gets angry and gives the her the big speech and tells Carnelle that she is not going
-The godmother and Carnelle go behind her father’s back and enter the pageant. Her dad finds out and follows them to the pageant where the godmother has a serious and deep conversation with him.
-Carnelle comes runner up in the pageant, she doesn’t get the trip of a life time but she gets money to help towards the trip that she wants.
This story ending is much better to the first as it is not predictable, and you can see how the characters develop throughout.
From this activity I have learnt how to progress on a story also how to do a character back story as the history of a character is important to the narrative.
Luna
Age: Ten years old
Gender: Female
Her Dad became a ice cream man after he re-married because his pervious wife that passed away and her favourite food was ice-cream
Luna also has a love for ice cream
Is isolated from friends after grievance
Due to the period of loneliness before remarrying, Luna has a very close bond with her dad
Luna accompanies her dad when he is working because she is hesitant to leave him alone, also because she likes ice cream just like her mum did
The family came from a poorer background so felt isolated amongst other children because she couldn’t afford things (e.g. scooters)
She is shy and timid and has no confidence, due to the nightmares she has every night which makes her very nervous and frightened when he comes
A short film is any film not but it is not as long as a feature film. Professional actors and crews still choose to create short films as alternative form of expression.
Short filmmaking is growing in popularity as equipment becomes cheaper and more amateurs are making films. "Prosumer" or semi-professional cameras now cost under £1,889, and free or low-cost software is widely available that is capable of video editing, post-production work and DVD authoring.
These are examples of websites that show short films both low budget and high budget and idependant:
Ken Loach is an English film and television director, well known for his dramas. He is also known for his naturalistic, social realist directing style and for his socialist beliefs, which are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as homelessness in Cathy Come Home and labor rights Riff-Raff.
Ken is someone in media that has an individual style, control overall elements and is able to put his personal stamp of his work, he done this with the help of Toy Garnet in the early stages.
Critics say : “ His films are melodramatic…….” And “….. audiences are left with no solution” this is because Ken doesn’t follow the rule of the equilibrium where the world starts off normal, problem arises and then the solution.
Kens style:
• Distinctive
• Provocative
• Captures a sense of realism
• A cinema of truth
• Inspirational
• Recognized
And he doesn’t always reveal script to characters
Films by Ken Loach
These are based on real life everyday stories were there is a huge amount of sadness in them and they both deal with major social issues. In the 1st clip its race, culture and religion and the other it’s the position of women and immigrants both deal with struggle and challenges this is common in Loach’s films.
I found that in the 1st clip not a lot of camera shots were used, Ken has kept it very simple. During the scene there was not a lot of talking but a lot of awkward silences, an when there was speech the characters spoke over one another this showed that it was not scripted but in a way it worked well.
I felt that Ken Loach used the narrative to show the characters ‘rite of passage’ in both films because without the string narrative it would not work this is in both clips.
