In our film class, we are undertaking a fairly hefty goal--we are going to make a movie. Yes, that's right; we have moved past quietly analyzing and decoding cinema to assuming that we can produce one. I'm pretty stoked about it. I have a few film major friends who always talk a big game about their latest film shoots and I want to be able to contribute some war stories, too.
In our project, a group of five students will make a five-minute film in a given genre using some assigned elements (a skull, a guitar, a cheese grater, a mime and some assigned dialogue). Our group was assigned the genre of drama. I admit that I was a bit skeptical of our genre, but we have some very inventive people in our group and one member has written a very compelling story. I'm looking forward to producing this film.
Some ideas that we had before we fleshed out our current one were inventive, to say the least. We began with a concept of a girl stalking a boy around campus all day with no concrete clue as to why she was doing it. That was about as far as we got with that idea before I started mentally adding slapstick humor to it (an addition that would not have contributed to our genre very well, methinks).
Another idea we toyed with was an idea of a post-apocalyptic scenario where different people recounted how they spent their last days on Earth. Another intriguing idea but not so easy to contain in five minutes or on a shoestring budget. Finally, a member of our group tweaked the original stalking idea into something more fleshed out (and appropriate). It is the original premise, really, but with the idea that the girl following the boy is the Grim Reaper, which we discover at the end of the short. I have not read the final script, yet, but I am excited to see where it goes.
Our group does not have a lot of collective experience with the filming process. I was assistant director on a film for the film club and am currently helping produce another one, but I have very little experience in actual filming. However, I think that our group is very capable. We will overcome our technical inexperience and create something worth the film it is printed on (not literally, or course, since we will be using digital film). I hope that the film turns out well with its own distinct voice. I'm also hoping that it takes on a quiet, unassuming air. As editor, it will be my job to give it a stylistic edge. Let's hope I am up to this daunting task.
In our project, a group of five students will make a five-minute film in a given genre using some assigned elements (a skull, a guitar, a cheese grater, a mime and some assigned dialogue). Our group was assigned the genre of drama. I admit that I was a bit skeptical of our genre, but we have some very inventive people in our group and one member has written a very compelling story. I'm looking forward to producing this film.
Some ideas that we had before we fleshed out our current one were inventive, to say the least. We began with a concept of a girl stalking a boy around campus all day with no concrete clue as to why she was doing it. That was about as far as we got with that idea before I started mentally adding slapstick humor to it (an addition that would not have contributed to our genre very well, methinks).
Another idea we toyed with was an idea of a post-apocalyptic scenario where different people recounted how they spent their last days on Earth. Another intriguing idea but not so easy to contain in five minutes or on a shoestring budget. Finally, a member of our group tweaked the original stalking idea into something more fleshed out (and appropriate). It is the original premise, really, but with the idea that the girl following the boy is the Grim Reaper, which we discover at the end of the short. I have not read the final script, yet, but I am excited to see where it goes.
Our group does not have a lot of collective experience with the filming process. I was assistant director on a film for the film club and am currently helping produce another one, but I have very little experience in actual filming. However, I think that our group is very capable. We will overcome our technical inexperience and create something worth the film it is printed on (not literally, or course, since we will be using digital film). I hope that the film turns out well with its own distinct voice. I'm also hoping that it takes on a quiet, unassuming air. As editor, it will be my job to give it a stylistic edge. Let's hope I am up to this daunting task.
