And in the end...

So that's it! I would have loved to have kept blogging as I have a whole load more of information to share, but I guess it's time that seems to take control! I hope the blog has been informative and that the product created is of a high standard.

I will possibly keep this blog open and use it for the production stages of the film, but that's a bridge I'll cross when I come to it...

See ya!

The new and improved Treatment!

Following the advice of my lecturer, I have since 'revamped' the original treatment.

The new treatment jumps out at the reader slightly more than the previous one and not to mention I have condensed a lot of the text down to simple, easy to read bullet points with key sections highlighted throughout. 

Below is the new-look treatment!

‘A CHOICE OF THREE’ TREATMENT REVAMP

Storyboarding the film

My initial objective was to also storyboard the entire film. This didn't happen for a number of reasons and due to it taking too much time to complete I was informed to take a back seat with them and focus more on the script, treatment and blog side of things. I'm glad I did, but here's one sheet of storyboards and more importantly the opening few seconds from the film...

Storyboard 1

It's too Academic!

After receiving feedback from my lecturer regarding my treatment, I had a slight wake up call with what is to be expected of myself on this module. I wrote the treatment in a University mindset, but forgot that this film is something that I want to take further than it just being a project at Unversity. I was informed that my treatment was too academic in it's structure. It was boring and it didn't need to be as plain as I had expected.

So, with that in mind, I've set about 'spicing' it up to catch the readers attention and keep them reading on. The treatment is probably the first thing a studio or financial contributor will read, SO IT HAS TO SELL THE IDEA!

The issue with my treatment was that it was too boring and mundane, which may work as a style choice for costumes and locations within the film, unfortunately it won't work to sell it!

Catchy headings, short bursts of text and straight to the point answers are what's needed!

Expect a re-vamped treatment to be online soon!

YMC Clothing and Complete16 present...

It has come to light recently of a competition that is being hosted by clothing company YMC (You Must Create) and Complete16, the 16mm processing and development company. The competition is pretty simple, you are to create a 5 minute short film of your choice that features two outfits from next seasons YMC clothing range (both male and female). It's the benefits of entering the competition however that interests me the most. Below is the full outline of the competition;

Now as I have mentioned in previous blog posts, I am interested in shooting on 16mm or Super 16mm film. If my application were to be successful I would have (FOR FREE), a complete 16mm shooting package (minus lenses) as well as 4 rolls of 400ft 16mm film to shoot on. This would help a considerable amount and would cut down my initial crowd sourcing funding limit giving me a larger chance of acquiring a budget via donations.

However, I'm not entirely sure of the legality and copyright information as of yet. If I were to submit a film (and be aware it can only be a total of 5 minutes), would I own the rights to the film once it's finished? My script runs at around 10 to 15 minutes as a rough estimate so this would mean I would still have to acquire a number of extra 16mm film rolls in order to shoot the whole project for my dissertation. I intend on finding this information out ASAP and will post my findings when I do!

Crowd sourcing information via NoFilmSchool

Koo of NoFilmSchool has kindly linked me to previous blogs in which he informs us of tips and thoughts regarding getting your project successfully funded. This is only a small post as I felt these links were worth sharing.

1. THOUGHTS AND TIPS FROM WEEK ONE OF CROWDFUNDING MY FIRST FEATURE, 'MAN-CHILD'
2. TEN MUST-READ POSTS BEFORE RUNNING YOUR OWN CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN 
3. TEN (MORE) MUST-READ POSTS BEFORE RUNNING YOUR OWN CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN

He has also supplied me with a link to a guest post he wrote for the popular site Hope For Film, which is ran by Ted Hope.

1. KOO ON YOUR AUDIENCE IS WORTH MORE THAN $

 

10 Crowd-sourcing tips from Kickstarter filmmakers...

I stumbled across this interesting article via NoFilmSchool which poses some interesting facts and tips for creating a pitch and crowd sourced project on sites such as Kickstater and was published by Ad Wasey on Rooftop Films.

Split into 10 sections, it features the following points;

1. DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK
2. GIVE YOUR PITCH A HOOK
3. HAVE A GOAL AND EXPRESS IT
4. REACH OUT TO COMMUNITIES
5. EMBRACE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
6. SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE FUNDING RACE
7. KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FUNDERS
8. MAKE YOUR PITCH PERSONAL
9. TELL PEOPLE WHAT'S UNIQUE ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
10. USE WHO YOU'VE GOT

These are all extremely valid points and I can't help but notice that Koo also gave me a lot of advice similar to that of the info relayed here by some other successful funding schemes. It shows that if these points are followed closely then there's a good chance your project may be successful!

One point that sticks out the most to me is keeping in touch with your contributors.

KEEP IN TOUCH WITH YOUR FUNDERS

The constant contact is really key. Especially in this day and age, it’s about building and cultivating an audience for yourself so you can hopefully sustain [your film career]. I was talking to someone recently who had contributed to both of my campaigns. She had also contributed to a number of others. She said, “You’re the only one that I really found this connection with.” There are a couple [of other campaigns where] she’s never heard from the people — she was assured that she would at some point. It’s hard because it varies by your own personality, how you connect with people. I do think there’s a real value, when people are giving you money, even if you know their name and address — you have an obligation to be in contact with them and let them know what’s going on. They were excited about the project in the first place! If you do really put an effort into the contact, over time, it will pay off, in terms of being able to get your work out there and sustain your work.
— Gregory Bayne, Jens Pulver: Driven

Gregory Bayne’s Jens Pulver: Driven is a documentary about a champion UFC fighter and his last match. Its Kickstarter project was a smashing success, raising more than $25,000 in just 20 days. For more about Jens Pulver: Driven, head over to thislovelymachine.com.

The article can be found in full HERE

Interview with Ryan Koo

A couple of months ago I mentioned that I had reached out to Ryan Koo, who runs the website NoFilmSchool, asking for an interview regarding his project 'Man-child' and more importantly how he successfully funded his project via the online Crowd sourcing website Kickstarter. Thankfully he has replied and agreed to be interviewed via email, so this post documents just that! Firstly, here's a little bit about Ryan (or Koo as he is preferred to be known as), taken from the biography section on his website. 

When I started this site in 2005 I was unemployed and living with my parents in North Carolina. My goal was to get myself to New York and start a film career — without any connections, and without going to film school. And this site got me there. It’s a long story, but thanks to this blog I was able to lie my way into a job at MTV (and a three-year career as graphic designer). While working at MTV I set out to make an independent web series with my coworker Zack Lieberman.

Our no-budget, nights-and-weekends urban western The West Side — which the two of us wrote, directed, shot, edited, post-produced, and released ourselves — won the Webby Award for Best Drama Series, and we were selected as two of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Film.

We got an agent, wrote a very ambitious interactive project, and took it to the studio world — where we ran face-first into a brick wall. After meeting with twenty studios I started feeling that getting something original made in the studio system was a Sisyphean task. As a result, I wrote The NoFilmSchool Manifesto, which rejects the studio model in favor of independently finding new funding and revenue streams in the digital world — allowing for far more creative freedoms in the process. As I say in the manifesto:

"I’m sure some people are going to think, “you’re only going the DIY route because you can’t make it in Hollywood!” My goal with NoFilmSchool is to prove them wrong."

Now in my opinion, that's a pretty good distance to travel within the industry just by bending the truth! It was this attitude to how the film industry operates that I felt really represents some of the independent filmmakers out there, with their 'stick it to the man' attitude and the passion and determination to get their films made. Because of his drive, he was able to raise $125,100 ($10,100 more than he originally requested) to fund his new film 'Man-child'. Below is the interview conducted with Koo.

___________________________________________________________

ME: So, before we start, can you explain to us as to what 'Man-child' is about?

KOO: 'Man-child' is an independently produced FICTION film that takes place in the high stakes world of basketball. The reason I'm emphasising FICTION is that a lot of people have already confused it with a documentary. It follows the story of 13 year old Terren 'TJ' Jackson after a video of him playing basketball hits the internet and turns his life upside down. Because of this, he finds himself in a wealth of fame, making him choose between his education, father figures and belief systems. It's a very personal story about how he has to face these choices that to anyone would be an ordeal to go through, let alone a 13 year old.

ME: And what inspired the storyline? Does it take inspiration from real life events?

KOO: I've played basketball all my life so I've always had a strong connection to the sport and now working with someone else I love, film, I felt it was an ideal opportunity to combine the two and hopefully make something that a vast audience will appreciate. It explores the world of sports, education, religion and sex and although it's entirely fiction, it's based upon a very real story of what goes on in the world today.

ME: What was the main reason behind wanting to crowd source the project?

KOO: Well, when I started within the industry I found that big studios want stories that are incredibly original, and if they're not, then it's incredibly difficult to try and get your project made. That's why I setup NoFilmSchool, to show people that you don't have to follow the system and typical models to get something created. If you're passionate enough and the project is right, then it's possible to get it made. This is where crowd sourcing comes into play. Right now on the internet we have access to a much larger world, all connected via screens and keyboards. It's because of this that I thought that via my site and the following I've accumulated from it, not to mention the service I've provided for years totally free, that I'd ask a favor in return that people donate towards the film to get it made. It makes it their own as well, in a way that whether you've donated $1 or $250, you've made that film possible.

ME: And do you feel that because of the success of your website you were able to reach your target amount due to the amount of people you were able to reach out to?

KOO: Absolutely, but at the same time I've found people then passing it on via word of mouth to friends and family members who genuinely felt connected to this project that they wanted to see it get made. The websites been a great help and at the start I had no intention of breaking any records when I set my goal of $115,000. For a day the film was one of the biggest funded narrative films that Kickstarter had hosted to date, but that was only for a day. It was (easily) overtaken by Save Blue Like Jazz, which was just re-categorized as a narrative film (a year after its campaign ended). But it wasn't a case of me just setting up the Kickstarter page, posting it on my site and letting it do it's thing. I clocked up some serious hours on the project. I used a piece of software called Freshbooks that allows you to manage and track your working hours efficiently and from collating the information from that, over the period of 6 weeks I clocked up 345 hours running the campaign, which roughly estimates to around 8 hours a day. This isn't taking into consideration the man hours however that was spent by myself, friends, family members, NFS readers etc etc that kindly posted, blogged, tweeted and facebooked the message of 'Man-child' across the net. It's to these people that I owe it the most.

ME:  What advice could you give to me, a 'first time crowd sourcer' about setting up a pitch and hopefully making it become successful?

KOO: Well first of all you're project needs to be solid. You need to make sure your idea is fully formed (or at least to the extent that you won't go and change 80% of the film once it's been funded) and that you're confident you have the ability to pull off the final product. Confidence is the key, as well as thinking outside the box. It's almost crucial to have a video pitch now on any crowd sourcing site, something that lets you connect to the contributors and hopefully result in them donating. It has to be original and exciting, you have to give them reason to want to part with their hard earned cash! Think of it this way, if you were approached on the street by a stranger, asking for $5, you wouldn't hand it over, not unless they gave a very good reason as to why you should. For my pitch, I created something which I didn't feel entirely comfortable creating at first. It feature myself having a conversation with the voice inside my head, the same voice that's probably now saying to you "wow that guy must be crazy if he has a voice inside his head". That's the guy who convinces you not to follow your heart a lot of the time BUT I'm glad I ignored him and went along with it. The rewards system is also something that needs to be thought about and not just thrown in as a last minute thing. I came up with the idea that for each dollar donated, that person would receive an individual film frame from the final product. This meant I had 115,000 frames that will be given out to each and every contributor and the more you donate, the more frames you get. This has slightly altered though as I've now received more money than predicted frames, but that all depends on how much I shoot during production. Be creative with what you offer, but most importantly keep in contact with your contributors, even if it's via a blog that only they have access to. You need to make them feel they truly are with you every step of the way regardless of how much they've donated! It's because of this that they might then tell others to get involved and well, you get the idea!

The pitch video for 'Man-child'. Click here to view the video.

Another crucial piece of advice is making sure you get the most out of Kickstarter. Don't make the same mistake that I did and get everything together on the site and launch it straight away. I launched mine last thing at night and when the clock ticked over to midnight it counted as one day gone. Collate everything you have into a document then first thing after midnight or in the morning, get your pitch live. You'll have more chance then at getting it noticed straight away, especially if you can set up an automated Twitter or Facebook post system that can give hourly links to your friends and family on your social networking sites. Manage your time well and the rest will follow.

It's easy to see projects like my own, or Jocelyn Towne raising $112,000 with her brilliant campaign video for I AM I, or Freddie Wong raising $75,000 in the first day of his campaign for Video Game High School, it’s easy to start seeing dollar signs. Just try not to lose sight of the face that 55% of Kickstarter campaigns fail to make their goal — and that includes a lot of campaigns that are many times smaller than any of these larger campaigns. Don't get lost in the flow of everything as Crowd sourcing is just the beginning!

Oh most importantly, best of luck!

___________________________________________________________

So! There you have it. Words of wisdom from a successful, Kickstarter crowd sourced project leader. I can only wish him the best of luck as well as eternal thanks for the help and time he's given me for this interview! From the points raised, the one that's sticking out in my mind at the minute is the fact that only 45% of projects are successful on Kickstarter. Whether or not these statistics follow on to other sites such as IndieGoGo or Sponsume is another question!

You can view the 'Man-child' project on Kickstarter HERE!

For more information on Koo, NoFilmSchool and to keep up to date with how the project is going, click HERE!

Sorry

This is just a short blog post to apologise for the current lack of content. At the moment I am trying to juggle the workload between a number of different projects at University and whilst I would ideally want to find an equal balance between them all, I've had to compromise and focus slightly more effort on a single project alone. I'll be back up and blogging soon!

Reactions to the Script

I thought to get a clearer understanding of how my script flows and works as a story, was to give it to a handful of people and to get their views on it. It's usually better when you get a fresh perspective on projects you're working on so that they can guide you if you are going slightly off track (in some ways just as the character of Lizzie has to constantly make sure Tom is on the right track) and also give feedback on the whole thing. So I did just that. 

I sent my script to a few friends and told them to be as harsh or as positive as they so wished. However the responses I had in return were very positive! The comedy elements within the script were my main concern as I find comedy to be the hardest genre to write for, however of the 5 people who read the script 4 of them fully understood and appreciated the comedic aspect. I was also concerned that the overall tone of the film would come across differently to how I intended and immediately assumed that if they hadn't already seen the films that influenced me the most then they wouldn't fully appreciate the films style, however everyone who read it said when reading they imagined an independent film style, as well as that it reminded them (and without any prior mentioning of this film before) of the style in the film '500 Days of Summer', which was one of my main influences.

Amongst all this praise however, there were some constructive criticisms. One person said that they felt the ending should have ended happily and that Alex should have gotten the girl. Now I enjoy a happy ending as much as the next person, but I felt that with the unlucky situations Alex gets himself into, it would make the film far too cliched for him to suddenly win the girl over and live happily ever after. With the current ending, the audience is built up to believe it will be a happy ending, before Alex snaps out of his daydream and heads back to reality, where in truth he has imagined what would happen in an ideal world.

First Draft

Since posting the completion of the treatment, I really wanted to compile the script into a first draft form. I use the term 'first draft' loosely as I find that with whatever I write I always get too attached to it first time round, making it hard for me as time goes on to go back and alter any scenes. My plan is to have a selection of people read the script and tell me their views on it. 

These people will be from different backgrounds and have different interests in film genre to ensure a good balance of feedback is received. The full script is featured below!

A Choice of Three (Working Title) Script

Treatment

The films treatment is complete! Over the last week I have compiled together a story that I feel is strong enough to do well for both this module as well as taking it further and introducing it to film festivals upon completion. It has taken advantage of the influences that I mentioned in previous posts both story wise and visual wise. At the same time I have been writing the script so that the completion and turn around is fairly quick. 

Below is the full treatment, hosted via Scribd.

‘A CHOICE OF THREE’ TREATMENT

Martin Scorsese on film...

Who said men can't multi-task? Whilst writing my treatment and scouring the internet for information on 16mm film and where I can hire equipment from, I somehow happened across a quote that was once said by Martin Scorsese. I think that Scorsese is one of the best Directors of our time and I'm a HUGE fan of his work, so when I read this I felt that he has a very clear understanding of the way the film industry is being played out at this current moment. The quote reads;

I prefer celluloid - there's no doubt about it. Yet I know that if I was starting to make movies now, as a young person, if I could get my hands on a DV camera, I probably would have started that way... There's no doubt I'm an older advocate of pure celluloid, but ultimately I see it going by the wayside, except in museums, and even then it could be a problem.

Martin Scorsese

Now I'm not entirely sure when this was posted, but strangely enough he was right. In the recent months, the biggest names in film, ARRI, Panavision and Aaton have all ceased production of their celluloid film cameras to focus on production of newer, digital cameras in this ever changing race that we call Technology. They'll be replaced with the ever popular RED cameras, or ARRI's own digital line such as the Alexa. Film will now become a thing of the past, and something we will tell our children about when they ask what a negative is.

I'm quite sad that it's happened so quickly, as growing up I have always been in touch with digital technology, so I appreciated the use of analogue technology more because it was something you could hold in your hand. It was real. I'm not putting a downer on digital however, as in my opinion and I'm sure in a lot of others it's a lot faster and not to mention a lot less expensive for shooting a film on.

A Panavision Panaflex film camera

The RED One digital cinema camera

Useful links:

http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/film-fading-to-black

http://collider.com/film-camera-production-ended-arri-panavision-aaton/120103/

Additional characters

Earlier in the blog I wrote of the main characters within the film. In that post were details of two other characters who I had written who act as Alex's 'go-to' guys. It's these two characters who pick him up when he is down and try and help him pluck up the courage to speak to Alexa on the train. They were at first two male characters, but I have now changed this to show the 'good' and 'bad' sides of the equation.

TOM

Tom is the type of person who can turn his hand to anything. He's got charisma, style and confidence and is very popular with the ladies. Or at least he thinks he is. He's a typical guy who is happily set on working for the company Alex hates for the rest of his life. He has no real life ambitions but is successful at whatever he chooses to do. He has no problem talking to women which Alex is jealous of, however he very rarely makes ay progress with them.

His interests are similar to that of Alex's and deep down he's a geek at heart, but tries to mask it with a 'ladies man' persona. He's one half of the double act that picks Alex up when he is down and devise plans to encourage him to speak to Alexa (or any other woman he has feelings for). He's a smart dresser and is rarely wearing anything other than a shirt and tie combination.

LIZZIE

Lizzie, the second half of the double act. Very rarely will you see Tom and Lizzie apart. Good friends from an early age, the pair of them were working for the company long before Alex started, but soon warmed to him when they all realised they share the same interests. Rarely seeing each other outside of work however, Lizzie has to make do with seeing her closest friends when they are huddled around the photocopying machine in the office.

She's a natural blonde with similar taste in clothing to that of Alexa, sporting 60s and 70s style fashion. She's bubbly and very sympathetic as she understands the most what Alex is going through. Her guidance is always much better than that of Tom's and she's constantly steering him onto the right track so that he doesn't say things that he shouldn't.

____________________________________________________________

These two characters currently only feature at the office location, emphasizing the fact that Alex is in truth 'on his own' when it comes to mustering the courage to talk to Alexa.

Characters - Progression and Development

From the start I have known that the main protagonist was to be male. Alex is his name. I'm not entirely sure at the minute if that's a name that I'm 100% comfortable with using, not for any reason in particular, I just don't feel that he suits the name Alex. So at the moment Alex is a working name until I come up with something else. I've always wanted the protagonist to be male because I prefer being able to connect more with the main characters I write, plus not to mention when I thought of him I pretty much envisaged myself. He's very similar in his ways to myself, but more of an over exaggerated version of me. He has similar tastes in music and films, similar dress sense and also the knack of being incredibly shy when it comes to speaking with girls that he likes. 

Whether or not I should be pouring all this information about myself onto a blog however is another story, but that's who he is.

This post is an introduction of sorts to the characters who at the moment occupy my narrative.

ALEX

The main protagonist of the film. Currently 25 years old, Alex is a hardworking individual who hates the job he is currently working in. Recently graduating from University, he has found himself in a boring and mundane job that is in no way linked to the degree he studied. Because of this, he is incredibly down. He travels each day to work on the same train, sharing the journey with the same people. Everything in his life day in and day out is the same. He shares a love for old British pop and alternative music (such as the Smiths and Blur etc), and can often be found at the cinema watching black and white foreign films with subtitles that himself, nor the rest of the people in the cinema understand.

I couldn't help but think of this song however when I first envisaged him.

Don't get me wrong, he isn't a boring person, it's just his life has become so routine filled with work that he very rarely see's his friends or family, which in turn has turned him from the fun loving person that he used to know, into a depressed and un-excitable young man. His main flaws are his tendencies to fuel awkward situations as well as being overly shy. He over thinks many situations, even ones that we would all consider minor (such as how sitting next to someone you like is a big ordeal and requires planning so that nothing goes wrong), yet it's this over thinking strategy that gets him into these awkward situations. He's a man of very few words and is set on love at first sight!

ALEXA

Actress Felicity Jones

The girl of Alex's dreams. Again, this is just a spin off of the name Alex (but also references Alex Turner, the creator of the story which initially inspired this film, as he was once in a relationship with Alexa Chung). She's the beautiful girl that he see's on his train journey to work every day and attempts to speak to. Not much is known about Alexa as the pair never have a real conversation. She's polite and well spoken however and deep down hopes that Alex will make the first move and talk to her. 

She's just as shy as he is but settles back into her comfort zone much quicker than Alex, making it easier to talk with her. She has dark brown hair and dresses in what can only be described as vintage 1960s/70s fashion. About the same age as Alex, she also shares the same dislike for her job, even though she doesn't show it. Her passion is reading and the majority of the time you'll find her with her head buried in a book.

When writing her I always picture actress Felicity Jones as the character.

__________________________________________________________

At the moment, these are the two main characters that I have written. I also have ideas for two other characters, both of which are friends or work colleagues of Alex but at this current time they aren't fully developed as my lead characters.

More info to follow soon.

Crowdsourcing and it's possibilities

Crowdsourcing has been a strong choice for funding projects around the world for many years. Small to large companies, charities, organisations and individuals are able to acquire funding for projects via donations, which has led to ideas that may never usually get to see the light of day form into life changing events, artistic collaborations or even hit films.

With the ever increasing and availability of new, digital technology, vast amounts of talented filmmakers are trying to get their work created and distributed to as many people as possible and although investing into this new technology may be cheaper than hiring or buying traditional filmmaking equipment, other sections of the project may be too expensive to fund by a small amount of people alone. This is where crowdsourcing comes into play and has grown ever popular within the film industry, especially for independant filmmakers alike.

Crowdsourcing however is so much more than just acquiring a budget for free, from people you may or may not have ever met. It's about a group of people coming together, to form a community, who are all interested in creating a project that they can feel linked to or apart of, knowing that without them it could not have been completed. Especially within film, it's seeing the final project on a big screen and the sense of accomplishment that they were involved.

From a filmmakers perspective, it's in about confirming an audience and a fan base during the pre-production stages, before any part of the film itself has been shot. If the story and the project are both strong enough, people will be willing to put forward small or even large amounts of money if they feel the production can reach a certain level or standard. To accompany this, various websites have been setup to help the fund acquiring process at lot easier, allowing filmmakers to obtain a budget online without turning it into a money making scam, thus in turn protecting the investors.

The most notorious and widely used crowdsourcing sites are IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. Both websites run with similar attributes in mind and as mentioned earlier, they both have security measures in place to ensure the utmost safety of the investors contributions. The way these sites work is pretty simple. It starts by creating a page for your project, where you explain in full detail the proposed ideas and outcomes, who is involved, why you require funding and how the project will be undertaken. As this is the internet, it's also usually accompanied by a video, helping the contributors meet the project starter and any other people who are involved, as well as allowing you to explain in more detail what the project entails. You set the amount you hope to raise and the amount of time the sponsor page is running for, as well as reward levels.

Reward levels act as a way of saying thank you to your contributors. By setting these milestones, you agree that for whatever amount of money is donated, that contributor is rewarded with a gift that is related to that particular project. For instance, if someone was to donate £10 to your fund, they would be rewarded with a personalised thank you letter for their donation, yet if someone were to donate £30, the would be rewarded with all gifts from the lower donation levels, as well as higher rated gifts such as a copy of the film on Blu-Ray or DVD and a producers or special thank you credit on the finished film.

It's a tricky method however, convincing people to part with their hard earned money in order to fund a project created by a person they do not know. Your project needs to be strong enough and you need to show you have the correct drive and determination to create something that has the opportunity to go further than just an internet web page where it may receive a couple hundred views. This is why this project, to me, is something that I want to take further than just a university project. Something that can be appreciated by many people, especially by the people who hopefully agree to back my project and make it possible.

I have recently contacted Ryan Koo, who for many years now has run a website called NoFilmSchool. Within the past few months, he has released details of and upcoming project known as 'Man-Child' and by posting a Kickstarter project, hopes to raise and fund his film venture. The project was successfully funded on September 23rd and raised a total of $125,100 ($10,100 more than he initially hoped to raise). Granted, because of the successful website he owns and runs, this may have given him the scope and credibility to fund a project of this stature, but taking key points from his project it's clear to see that his pitch, passion and determination to complete and create this project enabled him to reach his desired funding limit, but also exceed this limit. Ryan (or Koo as he is more widely known) has agreed to participate in an online email interview regarding his crowdsourcing pitch, which hopefully will inspire me to incorporate some of the strengths within my pitch. 

Watch this space...

- Adam

Useful links:
IndieGoGo
Kickstarter
NoFilmSchool

Story and Style Influences

Every story has to start somewhere. Whether it's sparked by a real life event, or adapted from a story already written or even created from something that was said or seen, they all start somewhere. As mentioned in a previous post, my story idea was heavily influenced by that of Arctic Monkeys front man, Alex Turner, in particular a short story that he had written and read for a compilation CD. It was this that sent my brain ticking and hopefully has enabled me to create a fun and interesting short film.

Now when I first came up with the story idea, I immediately listed films that I wanted to see again at some point that I felt could influence the look, themes, cinematography of my film. This list initially started as;

• 500 Days of Summer
• The Royal Tenenbaums
• Submarine
• A Single Man

Each of these films I felt have influenced me whilst writing this film in a number of ways, which I will breakdown and explain how and why within this blog. For ease I have separated each film into it's own specific blog post.

___________________________________________________________________________

Boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl doesn't... When Tom, a hapless greeting card copywriter and hopeless romantic, is blindsided after his girlfriend summer dumps him, he shifts back and forth through various periods of their 500 days "together" to try to figure out where things went wrong. His reflections ultimately lead him to finally rediscover his true passions in life.

A typical love story of boy meets girl, but with a twist... there is no happy ending. Directed in 2009 by Marc Webb, the film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It shows the rise and fall of relationships and how each person may think they are on the same wavelength when it comes down to long term commitments, but in fact they aren't as in tune as they initially think. 

Now when I first thought of my story, I straight away envisioned this film and this was for many reasons. First and foremost, I think it was because the main character, Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is very similar to my protagonist Alex. They are both chasing the girl of their dreams, or at least someone who they regard as the girl of their dreams and in a couple of occasions, Tom finds himself in an awkward situation or two just as Alex does. They're both working in very boring jobs, even though they know deep down they are destined to go further and be more successful with their lives. The relationships between the characters in 500 Days of Summer also influenced me to write in a couple of other characters who act as agony aunts for Alex, allowing him to explain the situations he has been going through without directly addressing the audience or without the need for me to write in a voice over explaining every situation.

Not only this, but the look of the film was also a huge influence. The way the characters dress and how the sets and locations looked on film, the bleak and uninteresting colours, the desaturated look and how the colour palette consisted of mainly greys and browns. 

The desaturated colour grade is shown clearly in the images on the left, with only greys, greens and browns being the most predominant colour. Of course the script is still being written, so art direction, cinematography and grading ideas don't really have to take full form as of yet. However with my style of writing, instead of playing the story out in my head, I like to envisage the complete picture. This includes what music might be playing in the background, what camera angles I could use to portray a certain emotion or feeling that the characters are going through. They're all factors that I feel enables me to think "I have certain restraints when shooting a film, due to my position within the industry, so what can I do and what do I have the possibility to do on this film?".

Costume is also a key element that I've noticed within the film and it's subtle changes make you appreciate the effort that's been put into the creation of the whole project. Throughout the narrative we are greeted with the same boring colours that radiate from the locations, but also these colours bleed into the clothing that each character wears. Everyone wears very pastel and bleak clothing, yet when Summer Finn (Deschanel) is introduced, she is wearing a slight variation of this in the form of blue clothing. The colour blue is also interpreted with joy or happiness within the film, contradicting its usual links with it being a cold colour which could represent unhappiness or the likes. This is shown in the clip below, where Tom is celebrating the fact that he is now in a relationship with Summer, yet when looking at the people around him and the animations and props that he has, you notice they are all in some way in blue (particularly in the choreographed dance sequence).

An example from the film showing how subtle colour changes in clothing
can influence how a character is feeling.

This is something that I thought could be referenced in my film, by using colour to signify how a character feels about something. With Alex he finds his job very boring and mundane, so everything in his office will be bleak and desaturated in colour. However when he see's the girl of his dreams she will be dressed in bright contrasted clothing, which will most definitely make her stand out from her surroundings and the people around her.

Anyway, diverting back on track, the whole film has a very lighthearted and bubbly tone, making it very easy viewing as well as giving the audience a few laughs along the way. It's classed as a romantic, comedy drama, which I guess you could classify my short film into as well.

To tie in with this however and linking back to the overall look and style of the film, a short music video was created in conjunction to the film, for actress Zooey Deschanel and more importantly her band She & Him. Again this video has similarities to that of 500 Days of Summer and influences the way I feel my film should look.

 

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15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: To lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.

Next on the list, is Richard Ayoades 2010 film 'Submarine'. Probably one of the most influential films that have inspired the narrative for my story. It shows the path of how one young boy, Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts), awkwardly attempts to win the heart of his sarcastic and reserved friend Jordana Bevan (Yasmin Paige). I feel that the way Olivers character is portrayed is brilliantly done, allowing many people of all ages and gender to relate to his trials and tribulations of trying to woo the person he likes. Almost everyone has been through it so it makes him seem down to earth despite his weird and social inept personality. It was the dialogue and how it is delivered however that inspired me the most. The fast paced, punchy deliverance of the speech gives it a very 'real' feeling and by real I mean how nervous and quickly he seems to speak when he's speaking to Jordana, in conjunction to how relaxed and slowly he speaks with his parents. 

It's this level of nervousness and awkwardness that I'd like to portray with Alex, when he is trying to confront his fears and pluck up the courage to speak to the girl on the train. This will be contradicted by how at ease and comfortable he speaks with his friends back at the office, hinting that once people get to know him he begins to show his true colours. Not only that, I have written a section in which Alex is explaining situations to his friends that ran through his mind as he was confronted by a man on a train. These situations include pretending to be asleep and ignoring the man and pretending to be foreign and not understanding what the man is saying. It's these small clips that remind me most of Submarine and I picture them as being shot as short Super 8mm film clips, intertwined with the rest of the film (this also ties in with a section from 500 Days of Summer in which the screen is divided into two sections. On the left of the screen we see the events play out as Tom wishes them to in his head, whereas on the right they are played out in reality. This may be portrayed also by a Super 8mm film effect rather than using film itself). This is commonplace in Submarine as there are sections in the film that are shot on Super 8mm film, including the music video for Alex Turners - Piledriver Waltz, which is featured on the films soundtrack.

With film, there is a certain nostalgia and realness to the imagery, so, tying this together with a heartwarming story that people can relate to will allow the audience to connect even further with how the character of Alex is feeling, again involving them with the narrative even more.

I am also fond of how there isn't an era that the film can be placed within due to it referencing many styles and cultures from both past and present era's. This again is a stylistic choice but it adds to the story in a way that it could fit into any period of time from say the 60s onwards and still be a timeless film. It's something that I felt could benefit my story, but perhaps in a way that the train is in fact an old steam engine with classic British carriages and the clothing is typical to that of the 60s and 70s, yet the character of Alex is sat on the train with earphones in listening to his iPod or MP3 player.

Similar use of bleak and mundane colours

Camera angles and the cinematography of the film is what can be typically classed as being independent. It's the type of work that you associate with the films of Wes Anderson instead of films made by big Hollywood directors such as Steve Spielberg of George Lucas. They tend to slightly bend or break the rules and in turn create a very stylised and artistic direction for the film. As stated earlier this isn't to be delved into too much at this stage but it does help greatly when envisioning how the final product will look.

As you can see from the images on the right, they also boast the washed out, bleak colour grade as that of 500 Days of Summer. Whether this look was achieved solely in post or if on set the lighting and use of film stock emphasised the colour, I don't know, however it's worth investigating into the film stock used to see how that can affect the look and feel of the films grade.

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An estranged family of former child prodigies reunites when one of their member announces he has a terminal illness.  

The Royal Tenenbaums, directed by Wes Anderson in 2001 shares many similarities to that of Submarine. It's been quoted that Richard Ayoade's directing style is similar to Wes Anderson's, and from watching both films I can say that this is in a certain way very true. What drew me back to this film when thinking of my own was again down to how the characters interacted with each other. For example, Gwyneth Paltrow's character 'Margot' is a slow talking, quiet individual, who holds her gaze with the person she is talking to at all time. This creates a very uneasy feeling within the viewer and in turn echoes that her personality is a tormented or unusual one. It's this along with the combination of pauses and silence that creates the comedy and tension from when the lines are delivered. With this in mind, I'm keen to include a lot of awkward pauses within my narrative and have the characters portray their feelings, thoughts and emotions physically, through sly looks, how they are sat or how they react to what the other character is saying. For me it's more of a physically driven story than a dialogue driven story, hence the decision to have more action then spoken words.

Again, the art direction and cinematography of this film are points that really stand out. It's style is like Submarines (which came after The Royal Tenenbaums) so it's clear to see how other directors and artists are influenced by their favourite films and directors. It uses a wide angle lenses and large amounts of headroom and talking space for individual character shots instead of the conventional close up or mid shot of the character.

The colour grade is again similar to that of the previous films, making use of washed out, saturated colours of brown, orange, blue and grey. It gives across a warm and welcoming feel to the film however, enticing the viewer in to its comedic (yet sometimes dark) storyline.

I'm much more of a fan of the camera work within the film however. There is a strong focus on each character when they are delivering lines by allowing them to hold the entire frame. This is either done by having them central to the camera as shown in the images on the left, with plenty of their surroundings in the frame also. Their surroundings aren't distracting however and compliment the framing of the shot.



The quirky and bubbly nature of the film is also a big influence to me. It's very easy viewing and makes dark themes within the film lighthearted and easy to watch. It is also cleverly narrated by Alec Baldwin, which I was at first considering myself within my film (however it would unfortunately not be narrated by Alec Baldwin). Title cards and subtitle cards are also commonplace within the film, detailing characters names, or even randomly stating what certain easily recognizable objects are when they are on screen. This is show in the images below;

An example of the title cards, stating key stages of the film

Character and actor subtitle cards

Subtitle cards that aren't necessary but are implemented to propel the comedy
element further

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A story that centers on an English professor who, one year after the sudden death of his partner, is unable to cope with his typical days in 1960's Los Angeles. 

Possibly the only film on the list that hasn't influence my story in a narrative sense, but more so in a stylistic and aesthetic way. A Single Man was directed by Tom Ford in 2009 and is one of the most beautifully composed films I have seen in my opinion. I love the colour and nostalgic feeling that's created by again, similarly to the previous films mentioned, making use of saturated colours of greys, browns and oranges. Colour plays a very large role within the film and interprets the way the main character is feeling. Certain colours also remind him of previous events and memories from his life. One of the main implementations of this is when he holds a red rose in his hand, the colour suddenly comes rushing back into the frame and produces a beautifully contrasted image that is rich in colour.

An example of how the colours within the film suddenly flood back
when the main character is reminded of previous memories

This shot best captures how I imagine the office scenes to look. Using
bleak colours and deep blacks to imply the location is dull and boring

The film is also set during the 1960s and although it was shot on 35mm film, it still gives across the characteristics of vintage analogue film (albeit it may have been enhanced in post).

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So, documented above are the main influences for my film. Although these are mainly artistic choices and not story choices, I feel that I still want to document my final image of the film, rather than comparing it to films that have been. I'm trying to create something that can be classed as unique or influence mainly by a genre. In this case, the genres that have influenced me the most are that of comedy and romance films, including slight elements of drama.

Story Synopsis

Alex, our protagonist, leads a boring life. His life revolves around work with only average family gatherings and occasional nights out with friends to keep him occupied. Each day, he takes the same train, at the same time, from the same platform, to the same mundane office where he works. It takes him roughly an hour to complete the train journey and for this whole time, he attempts to pluck up the courage to talk to a beautiful young woman. It’s his shyness and constant efforts to speak to her that gets him into all types of awkward situations, which are all discussed with two of his closest friends when he arrives at work. It’s their constant encouragement that keeps Alex pursuing the girl of his dreams, but it’s his constant awkwardness and nervousness that keeps him from her. 

This is a story of boy meets girl... but with nerves.

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That's the story synopsis for the script! The majority of the film is to take place on a train (including the train station etc), but this logistic and location choice will be crossed further into pre-production. I have already been scouting for local train stations that may be willing to allow a short film to be shot there. The treatment for the project is now in the character development stages and I currently have 4 of the main characters written in. 

Whether or not I increase this to more characters as the story progresses I'm unsure, but at the moment I'm comfortable with the characters I have created.

Story and Script development

I've always been a fan of music, especially the music of the Arctic Monkeys. The lead singer, Alex Turner, who created the soundtrack for Richard Ayoade's film 'Submarine', has always attempted to broaden his horizons by working and collaborating on a number of different styles of projects. One of these projects includes writing and more specifically, short stories.

For a while now, I've known about a series of albums entitled 'Late Night Tales'. These albums are compiled by various artists in the music industry and consist of the artists favourite songs and in some cases, stories and poems. One in particular that I am a fan of, is the album compiled by Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders.

'Late Night Tales' by Arctic Monkeys (2008)

All of these points are intertwined however, as on this compilation features a story, written and read by Alex Turner. Upon first listen, it sounds like a mix of poetic nonsense about a man on a train, without a solid backbone for a narrative. I constantly found myself however listening to it over and over again, almost mesmerised by how it was written and seamlessly flowed from one line to the next. The more I listened, the more I was able to unravel the story about the protagonist and his struggles of a somewhat ordinary journey on a train.

It was this short story, which is only a page in length, that has inspired the narrative I shall be writing for this module, which in turn will then be filmed for the FYP project next semester (interlinked with my dissertation).

I have begun the treatment and character development for the film, which will then be followed by a first draft of the script. It is crucial however that the story I am creating can be reinforced to certain projects and films already created, that acted as influence for the idea, so that the reader can understand the style and themes that I wish to portray within the narrative.

Below is the full track of the short story written and read by Alex Turner.

 

Dissertation

"A technical investigation into using celluloid for a short film production"

That's it. 

My dissertation title has been chosen and work has begun on initial aims and objectives for the report, as well was research into the specific areas. 

In terms of the advanced negotiated project, I have begun to inquire about hiring film cameras to understand the general prices and budgeting options for renting them. This can then give me a clearer idea into the budget needed and the amount that will hopefully be raised via crowd sourcing.

More to come soon.

- Adam