Conventions of a Short Film

Shot List

Coming straight after the storyboard and animatic is an example of a shot-list. I'll be taking this onto set so I know how to set up the camera, I've even colour coded it so I can work out which shots are repeated regularly.

 

Shot list

 

Audience Research, Script Survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5S5PTKC

(Have a go at my survey while you're here!)

 



Having a script means that I can get a rough idea of what the audience will think of the film before all the fiddly, difficult stuff. For example, if people really hate the ending, then I can act on that before I shoot.

 

It's also helpful to have it read by many people so if there's elements that are unexplained, then I can redraft and not have a short film with unintentional unanswered questions.

Directors Research

Storyboard and Animatic

I've produced a storyboard for the opening and closing sequences of my short film, in order to make shooting as efficient as possible. I've also turned it into an animatic, showing what the final product could resemble.

Brew Storyboard

Production Diary - Planning and Production

I’ve set myself a target of having Brew shot by the last week in October, allowing plenty of time for editing, reshoots or pickups.

To make this a reality, I’ve been working on planning the shoot extensively, as well as looking for actors to play the parts – I will be holding an audition to work out which of the actors I’m considering will be best for the role. I have currently narrowed it down to three actors who could bring something to the role of Graham, afterwards I will look at casting Miranda.
For a limited shoot, being as efficient as possible is important to make the use of the time so I have been detailing what needs to be shot in the form of a storyboard. Drawing isn’t my area of expertise so it took a bit of research to comfort myself that my anatomically incorrect scribbles are acceptable – specifically I looked at Ben Wheatley’s storyboards for the two episodes of Doctor Who he directed.

Doctor Who - Deep Breath, 2014

Set hunting has also been a task that’s proving difficult – two coffee shops I was looking at shooting in closed within two weeks of each other leaving to keep looking. I have found that independent coffee shops are more likely to be flexible as opposed to chains such as Costa or Café Nero as they have different agendas. A coffee-shop crawl through London is being planned, although I would prefer to keep it local as it means getting the cast, equipment and crew around is easier.

 I'm also continuing my aim to watch short films regularly and features once a week in order to note their construction. Recently, after being impressed by Spike Jonze's music videos I've watched Where the Wild Things Are which was a brilliant watch and impressivley made. What I've seen of his portfolio, I can see his 'style' emerging with soft visuals and bittersweet stories and this is likely to have an influence on my work.