Idea Research

"Whirlwind" Research and inspiration.

I looked into existing pieces of work and techniques I can use to help me create this story in 5 minutes. I basically watched a lot of similar films and found that the stories were all similar and kind of dragged out. I wanted to take this and put it into a short film by using techniques such as montages to show different time periods in the story so it doesn't seem like it's all done in one day. I also researched some techniques I was looking to use and how they work to tell a story.

Films:

Submarine by Richard Ayoade.
This film really inspired my piece both visually and how the story is told.

What inspired me about Submarine was how it looked. The whole piece looked like it was a dream, especially as the relationship between the characters evolved. For example, I liked the lens flares in the scene where the characters are kissing as it seems almost surreal and suddenly these characters feel brighter and it almost looks like the love is an object (the light) and it's magical. I think it makes the relationship between the characters seem more real especially as the dialogue is quite mundane throughout. I also really liked how they used the colour red as a symbol throughout on Jordanna, the female character. It makes her stand out as all the other characters are dull and copies of each other. It makes you realise why he's so attracted to her because she really is different. I think overall the story develops quickly but is told with underlying stories to make it a full length film. My story is just one main story and theme and focuses entirely on that even though the characters both have problems outside their relationship. I think it shows that they're both so infatuated with each other they've forgotten about what's happening elsewhere.

500 Days of Summer - Marc Webb

This film definitely inspired me to tell a story that's real and has an underlying message that even when you're infatuated you shouldn't let it control your life because an event might change all of that. I like that this film is described as: "This is not a love story, this is a story about love" because when watching it, it's not what you think. It's only until you read into the film more that you realise. I like that you have to notice how selfish these characters are as they stop caring about anything else. This inspired me to tell my story like this. I also like the change of tone in the film which is subtle and very effective. When the characters are happy, we see them in brighter colours and the film has a more yellow tint to it to show the love. When they go through down periods we see dull colours and it feels more grey and unhappy. This really sets the tone.





Techniques:
BORDWELL,David and THOMPSON,Kristin (2013). Film art: An Introduction. 10th ed., McGraw Hill, New York


Editing:
To tell a story in 5 minutes is going to be quite difficult. I looked into several editing techniques to help condense all the information in to 5 minutes without skipping key information.
Montage is an editing technique. It's a series of short clips edited into a sequence to condense the information in a film. I think that this is important in my film as it will only be 5 minutes long and I want to see the characters develop. Montage is more about the passage of time rather than being symbolic. It will help my story establish different time periods.
Montage has inspired me in the idea process. I think using montage will help make the story seem less rushed and show that these characters have been together for what seems like a few weeks. There will be 2 montages in the film. One in the middle showing the times the characters have shared in between meeting and falling in love and one at the end of just Lily on her own to show how in love Flynn is.
Editing can shape chronology. By showing flashbacks or montages I can show recollections from the characters point of view and express information that's important to the story in a more condensed way. I can also use elliptical editing to cut long scenes of action that don't need to be long. I can cut to a fade to show that time has passed. It cuts less important shots down which will make more room for key scenes.


Narration:
Narration is a creative decision I have decided to use in my film.
I will use narration in my film to tell the story from Flynns point of view as he's an awkward character who eventually opens up whereas, Lily is already an open book and is really confident. Narration builds up the story and can provide us with more information and a grasp on the story. As my piece doesn't have much dialogue I think it's important to tell the audience what's happening and how the characters are feeling. Typically, the narrator is a character in the story who tells the story. Non character narrators however, are more prominent in documentaries. Narration from the character gives us a subjective view of the story which for my film is important as we want Flynn to tell us how this journey has changed him. Overall, narration gives the audience a unified experience as the audience all gets the same information and story due to the narration.