MDA2100 - Treatment

This is the page-long script treatment I read in class, based on the idea for 'One Night Only':

An untidy Central London apartment.

After having his heart broken twice in a short period of time, Sean Ryan has resorted having many meaningless one-night stands with random men and drinking heavily to escape the fact that he hasn’t moved on from his previous heartbreak.

Sean sits in his bed, reading sadly through a text from one of the aforementioned unsuccessful relationships, as an unnamed man leaves his apartment. The state of his apartment, (discarded cans, bottles and plates litter the rooms,) reflect his current lack of passion for anything, or anyone. He looks melancholic, evidently ashamed of what he has done, and dwelling on the sender of the text message. He remains in bed for most of the day, seemingly apathetic to everything.

As darkness descends outside he has a shower and starts drinking, preparing himself for another night, and another meaningless fling. He stands in the shower, as lethargic as he was while in bed. He finishes getting ready for the night out, and after making a downcast toast to his own reflection, he finishes his drink and leaves his home.

Sean returns sometime later, drunk and in the company of Jonah, an Australian tourist he met on the night. They sleep together, and afterwards Jonah falls asleep while Sean lay awake.

Eventually, Sean leaves his bedroom and goes into his kitchen, and after pouring himself another drink, breaks down into tears. Hearing this, Jonah wakes up and comes into the kitchen. He comforts Sean and asks him what is wrong.

His genuine concern throws Sean off his guard, and he begins to talk about his recent heartbreaks and how he’s been having meaningless encounters to cover up his fear of having his heart broken again. At the end of the conversation, Jonah says that it’s a shame he has to go back to Australia soon as there could have been potential in their relationship, had they gone on to get to know each other.

Upon returning to the bedroom the two sleep together again and unlike before, Sean falls asleep afterwards, no longer regretting the encounter.

The next morning, after a pleasant yet nonetheless awkward goodbye, Sean sits in the kitchen, looking at his phone. He picks it up and almost goes to read the messages, as he did at the start, but stops, and puts his phone back on the table. Looking around the apartment, and seeming less apathetic than before, he opens the blinds letting in the morning sun, and revealing a view of the Central London Skyline. He surveys this for a moment, before starting to pick up some of the discarded bottles littering his home. 

The main criticism for this idea is that the ending seems to upbeat, and not realistic enough for the timeframe of a short film (as it seems resolved). A resolved ending, however, was not my intention, and I now agree that the treatment makes the ending seem a lot happier than it should, as I only imagines Sean considering how he could change and maybe making a minor change to represent this.

I will consider this while drafting the script. 

MDA2100 - Step Outline

This is the step outline I have written to go with my pitch idea, 'one night only'.

‘One Night Only’

1.       Sean lies in his bed looking at his phone as an unnamed, man leaves his bedroom, he re-reads the text he received, stating the end of a relationship, and with an almost resigned reaction, closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

2.       Sean is in the shower, vacant look, as he gets ready for another night out. He contemplates texting the boy who broke up with him earlier, even starts writing a message, but he deletes it and continues getting ready.

3.       He comes back from the club with Jonah. They passionately kiss and drunkenly start to sleep with each other.

4.       Waking in the middle of the night, Sean goes into his kitchen, and has a drink, starting to cry, as he thinks about how the meaningless encounters aren’t helping him.

5.       Hearing the crying, Jonah comes in and they begin to talk about Sean’s history with men and why he has so many meaningless, drunken encounters.

6.       Towards the end of the conversation, Jonah says it’s too bad he has to go back to Australia, as after getting to know Sean more, he sees they could have been good together.

7.       Jonah leaves and Sean sits, contemplating recent actions. He slowly starts to clean his messy flat, tidying away bottles and seems more hopeful, and happier as a person. 

MDA2100 - Pitch Idea

This is the pitch idea I read out in class as part of our assignment:

‘One Night Only’

                ‘One Night Only’ is a romantic drama detailing the start of the repair of a heart, not the usual two hearts joining together.

                Almost a cross between 2011’s ‘Weekend’, with certain, more serious elements from the rom com ‘Friends with Benefits’

Sean, the protagonist, is a single, 21 year old Gay man who lives in London, who after having his heart broken twice in the past year has resorted to drinking and meaningless flings to get the attention he craves. His main goal is, actually to find someone who will love him and treat him with affection. His obstacles are the fact that as a person, he puts more into relationships and gets feelings for others quicker and more than they do, even if they aren’t usually 100% into the relationship like he is. This being why he gets heartbroken in the first place, he tries to deal with it by having meaningless flings, (his situation during the start of the film), though this is an obstacle, as while he gets ‘attention’, he doesn’t get the love and emotional attachment he really wants.

                It is only when he meets Jonah, an Australian 23 year old, travelling in London and they share one of Sean’s usual nights together, that they start talking about Sean’s life, and how he doesn’t, once they start talking, seem like the person who would usually do this. After talking they begin to share a bond, and it is when, during the next day, that Jonah declares it’s too bad he has to go back to Australia, because they could have had something special, that Sean has a revelation about his life, realising that the meaningless flings are only giving him short-term satisfaction, and not the emotional love he really wants. Realising he shouldn’t be doing this as it’s not helping him, he starts clearing up his flat (and life), leaving the prospect open that while not having meaningless flings, he will look for something more serious and perhaps take things slower and differently than he usually does.

                The story is more the Ritual Occasion structure, because while Sean seeks meaning flings, his obstacles were initiated mainly due to having his heart broken by somebody else, not something he directly did, and it is only the events initiated by Jonah which bring about the small realisation about what he has been doing and leave the future open for change. 

MDA2300 - Change and Innovation

Magnus' half of the module covers the more technological aspect to innovations in film, and asks us to look at how recent developments in technology are affecting films, the industry and mainly how people access, spectate and interact with films.

We were given three main points to consider:

• The ways in which we view movies is changing
• for example, smaller devices and other online services can be used to watch films, films are sometimes interactive and different technological advances (such as improved 3D technology) have led to an increase in their use. 
• The fact that the new technology and experiences have to be considered by filmmakers
• i.e. we need to consider the many new and emerging formats while making and planning for new films, and certain technologies need to be utilised for the benefit of the film reaching and impacting audiences. 
• The fact that the way films have been viewed has always changed. 
• e.g. the widescreen, full colour cinema of today is worlds apart from the first ever black and white film screening, with no sound and lower image quality, sue to the available technology at the time. 

One of the main points we have covered so far is the way that new technologies have blurred the line between the maker of film, and the spectator.

Examples include 'mashup' trailers, in which footage of one film is used to advertise the story of another, (this shows how those who are usually part of a film's audience are affecting how others view films, like filmmakers usually do,) and film movements such as 'machinima', in which software is used to make 3D films, meaning that (as the software is easily accessible) anybody really can make a film, in which there is no need to physically organise actors and locations, with basic skills.

These ideas are similar in a way to what we looked at at the start, in the fact that while we originally looked at how the development of 'film' affected how people artistically expressed themselves, we are now looking at how technological developments are affecting how people access and make films.

MDA2900 - First Assignment Idea Finalised

http://www.10-minute-plays.com/scenes/the_unwanted_scene.html

Here is the play on which we are basing our first assignment

From the producer's perspective, it will be very feasible, with one, simple location and two characters.

I will put out a casting call later on so that we can prepare for auditions, especially as in such an emotionally driven scene, acting will be important!

MDA2900 - Schedule

Here is the schedule I composed for the first assignment for MDA2900

MDA2900 - Serena's Second Visit

After having our second talk off Serena Cullen, we had another interesting look into her life, work and her insight into the world of production.

We watched a part of a musical drama she produced, as well as a pilot for a sitcom, and part of a few television movies, and we learned about the low budgets used, tight schedules, and certain times in which the projects were never fully realised, due to funding backing out (even after making a pilot episode, in the case of the sitcom!)

• If funding falls through, you can still make the project and make a larger profit, but BE REALISTIC.
• Persistence and passion are key
• Most films have about 5 memorable moments, so when you are creating a trailer, think about them and try adding them to the trailer
• Use a 2 camera sysytem for a faster shooting process

To conclude, she had five key points to tell us:

• The writer, producer and director all have a shared vision
• A producer must have passion for the project
• Access to the people, resources you need is important
• You need the Energy to see the projects through charismatically
• The most important thing is making it happen for yourself

MDA2900 - New Project Brief

We have a new project brief, to produce or direct (in pairs) a short scene, involving 2/3 characters, which we have to adapt from a book or play, and which must be feasible in the short amount of time we have to make it!

I will be producing, and working with Francisco who will be my director!

I now need to get started looking for texts to use and scheduling for the next few weeks!

MDA2900 - Vladimir Lozinski: The Independent Producer

The next guest speaker we had was Vladimir Lozinski

A producer who worked his way to the top, before breaking off and becoming independent, he had many useful tips for us

• Producer is normally the most important individual in a film production
• Think about the budget every day
• Label your clips so you will not lose them.
• NEVER limit yourself to one technology
• Script is the most important part: the audience needs to have a story they can connect with
• Know your audience.
• The producer is 'driving' the director to create their vision
• Patience is very important, when working with people
• Restrictions you have can help you think outside the box and do something incredible
• As a student, your most powerful tool is the story and its characters
• Producer needs to have the drive and the ego
• People prefer to work with people who manage to create a film under the budget
• Know what you want; good pre-production saves you money
• If you need to get rid of a character, plant something in the backstory
• Fed crew is a happy crew

He also discussed many other important facts, such as the best way he goes about transporting/logging capturing rushes, and also DSLR cameras and the perks/downfalls in using those, compared to other camera models.

I also feel that while the main messages in his talk were similar to those given by Serena, as a whole he had a different air about him as a producer, I feel. I found the fact that this gave him almost a different approach interesting when considering what he had to say!

MDA2900 - Production Workshop

Though I missed it and caught up with my classmates notes, we had a talk off Eddie, discussing what makes a good producer, and the skills involved in Producing films.

• Confident (but not overconfident)
• Organized (write things down, prioritize, research, find out what can go wrong, delegate  communicate, have backup plans, manage your time and ask questions)
• Good communicator (talking, networking, open, knows how to talk to many different people)
• Self-control 
• Patience
• Negotiations (know everybody and everything, and know how to convince people)
• Executional (with your ideas) 
• Leadership – you have to have a vision

Personally, I'm still not sure whether I would make a better producer or director. On the one had, I feel that I would love the creative control a director gets, yet on the other, I feel that I have many skills which would make me a good producer: I'm a good communicator and have dealt with many different people of different backgrounds in my life well, and also I'm patient and in group tasks good at organising others. 

I only did a small amount of producing last year, and feel that I got a bit overwhelmed by it, if I were to do it again, the tips I got from reading through what Eddie discussed at his talk have definitely helped me think about how I could better approach the task. 

MDA2300 - Update and Abstract Film

We have continued Guy's part of the module by looking at a range of Modern video artists, such as Inger Lisa Hansen, who's work called 'Travelling Fields' involving the complex Norwegian Landscape I was very intrigued by.

I personally really enjoy thinking about the many different, unconventional ways film can be used as a form of artistic expression and exploration, and how the moving image can diversify a work of art and make it an even more immersive and impacting piece.

The first of the briefs I have completed is the Abstract Film brief, in which we are not allowed to use any recorded footage. After noticing a particular colour scheme, which was present int he decor of my shared house, I decided that I would use this theme as the basis for my abstract film, visually exploring how well the colours complement one another, in a short film which is aesthetically pleasing, and fun to watch:




I particularly enjoy how smooth the film runs together, almost fluidly.
To make the film, I experimented with Rendered shapes and images, and motion through keyframes in Final Cut Pro. I found it fun to play around with the different settings and getting a wide variety of effects, those of which I thought went together, I put in the film.