Tuesday, 2 November 2010
some sound ideas
Monday, 1 November 2010
After speaking to Jim I imagine the piece to be quite comedic in the way it is shot and edited. I will try and work together the shots the best way to bring across the comedy. Jim has talked about using shots with the camera strapped to the character and following them as they walk. For shots like this I imagine fast cuts in between characters and the action that is happening to make it more interesting and effective. As the film is a drama i don’t feel that there will be a need for effects as i think this will take the comedy too far and almost become silly. I want to be able to use what has been shot and edit it together to become funny without the help of any other effects. Jim has also talked about the colouring of the shots and the difference in warmth between the office and the party. This is something i will reflect in the edit.
When I think of this piece I think of the comedy ‘Peep Show’ as the point of view shots will be very present in our piece. I have been watching ‘Peep Show’ and how this technique works and how it has been edited together to be successful. I will also be watching things such as ‘The Office’ for typical office scenes. I will research short films related to the style that we are looking to create.
Once the script has been written I am going to be able to plan more what i will be able to do with the edit.
FINAL PITCH
3.00pm
Furnival 9006
Annie Watson, Sue Gent and Dean Summers
I have put together a very basic PowerPoint, we are meeting at 1pm (after the lecture) where we can finalise this PowerPoint and go over the pitch. And get food!
See you tomorrow! :)
Jimmy's Initial Cinematography Ideas
I’d very much like to experiment using dolly’s and tracks, which could be great to travel around the office, going from character situation/conversation to another from one office cubicle to the next. I’m also really excited about using the camera’s as almost a surveillance device, spying on what’s happening in the office. If we could mount the camera on a dolly, we could move through the action, scene to scene.
I think getting POV shots will be quite interesting, as will some shots I’d like to get from inside objects point of views, such as coffee cups, photocopiers, water dispensers etc. Seeing the characters through the eyes of the office building itself.
With regards to colour scheme and style, I’d like the tone of the film to be quite bland, nothing overly colourful, until the Christmas party, when I think the tone should get warmer, as people drink more, the atmosphere becomes less professional and more social. This will also be aided by art design and the extensive red decoration of Christmas! Maybe also experiment with having some footage desaturated as surveillance footage etc.
SYNOPSIS
Visual Style by Jimmy May

Just a few images from some films and TV shows I felt were appropriate to reflect some of the visual style I'd like to create. Firstly, How Not To Live Your Life, Don Danburry's character is a very irritating, seemingly cool but hideously idiotic character. The shots used in the series are pretty standard, nothing overly special but there is a nice colour and warmth to the cinematography which adds a real homely feel.
Nathan Barley is one of my favorite television series of all time. The cinematography is punctuated with lots of use of colour and lighting, which reflects the content. This isn't something I'd consider for our project, however I feel that his character and the way they shoot him is quite important - He is a "Cool Kid," Overly confident, dumb, ignorant. The cameramen use sharp zooms, focus pulls and movement to reflect this, an edgy camera style for an edgy character.
Gavin and Stacey I think is a great example of a well shot sitcom. I think for our film, I would go with an almost "Sitcom" style of camera work, I feel it fits the content more than making it appear "epic." I'd also like to experiment with the camera being almost a CCTV camera, so it is positioned in places you might not expect to catch action.
Mike Baldwin from Coronation Street was one of my favourite characters of all time. I thought his storylines and acting was superb - a real villan, but a clever one. Coronation Street isn't necessarily an influence of mine, but I wanted to include his character in this research. Hopefully the actors we work with will give us an assured performance.
Shaun Of The Dead I included mainly for the interaction between the characters and because it is a great example of British comedy. I think it is interesting how they shoot the relationship between Shaun and Ed, I also like the "plan" shots, where they discuss what they are going to do to survive the zombie apocolypse.
Human Traffic is also a great British film, in this instance showing "Jip" the main character at his workplace. There is some really intricate cinematography in Human Traffic - something maybe we could explore in our film, using small spaces and making them really come to life using clever camerawork.
The Peep Show and The Office were obvious choices because of the office settings. Peep show has its own really defined style, extensive use of POV shots to tell their stories and lifestyles. The Office also has its own style, whilst watching, I noticed a lot of long shots, almost surveillance style, looking over divides, as though the camera is us, spying on the main characters. I think this is also an interesting style, something that could benefit our film.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Meeting/What to bring
We're meeting tomorrow to get all of the info together for the pitch on Tuesday. I'll put everything you bring tomorrow together into a PowerPoint/print off treatments tomorrow evening. Here is a list of what I need from you all:
Theo - The completed treatment
- Synposis
- Character profiles
Verity - Mood boards for the Christmas party and office scenes
Tom/Billy - Sound maps/a short paragraph of what you hope to achieve in terms of sound
Jim/Mark - A short paragraph about what you will bring to the film in terms of Cinematography
Chelsea - A short paragraph about how you will research/plan for the edit
Theo, please put your treatment on the blog tonight so we can all look at it/give feedback, then you can work on it some more and bring the final one with you tomorrow.
We're meeting tomorrow afternoon (Monday 1st November) at 1-3pm, meet outside EMB and we'll try to find an empty space in there. The pitch is at 3pm on Tuesday 2nd November.
See you tomorrow!
Friday, 29 October 2010
Outline for idea
Treatment : Working Title - Promotion
Colin, 26 and his workmates have been planning a fancy dress Christmas party for the office employees and other departments. The employees have been told to dress as their idols for the party. Colin has been keeping an eye on a girl from a rival department and plans to talk to her at the party later on, however he has already shown himself up by spilling tea all over her, ruining her party outfit in the process. Steve, 28, is promoting the party with his girlfriend Claire, 22. Wilf, 25, has nominated himself to give the Christmas speech for his department, however his motives are more than what they seem, he wants to get a job promotion and plans to suck up to the boss during the speech. Claire glances at Wilf as he goes to the toilet and quickly follows him before dragging him to the toilet, Wilf can hardly believe his luck! While Wilf is gone, Steve sees the perfect opportunity to facebook rape him, changing his pictures to all sorts of indecent images, if only he knew what was happening. Paul, 22, is new to the department and it’s clear to see that he’s not the sharpest tool in the box. He has a tendency to ask daft and obvious questions, while he spends most of his time on football and online game websites. Colin has heard a rumour that his love interest; Sarah will be turning up to the party as Mini Mouse, therefore he plans to dress as Mickey Mouse in a bid to get with her.
On the night of the party Wilf turns up in a Darth Vader costume, Paul as half a horse, Steve as James Bond and Colin as Mickey Mouse. It turns out that Sarah is dressed as something completely different, leaving himself feeling very embarrassed. The boss has organised a karaoke competition with anyone free to enter. As Wilf prepares to make his all important speech, Claire starts to flirt with him. He can't resist the temptation and in a desperate attempt to get the speech done, turns to the only person available; Paul. Paul takes the Darth Vader outfit off Wilf and prepares to make the speech, he loses it momentarily but finds what he thinks is the speech to his own relief. Colin has been lingering around his crush; Sarah all night, but she seems disinterested. Everyone goes quiet as Paul makes Wilf's speech, he completely messes it up, reading from a sheet of song lyrics instead. Steve is worried because he can't find his girlfriend. In a desperate attempt to impress Sarah, Colin gets on the karaoke and sings a love song to her, he is incredibly drunk and makes a fool of himself. It turns out that Colin's boss finds it sweet and awards him the prize for the best performance of the night. However it seems that Colin is in for another prize aswell and gets dragged off to the toilet by his boss. As Colin and his boss enter the toilet, Claire and Wilf leave. Claire is all over Wilf and the situation soon becomes clear to Steve and his emotional side comes to the fore as he cries at Claire's feet before running away in tears. Paul changes back to his old costume and soon finds Sarah taking an interest in him, he happily obliges and cops off with her. After Colin's night of lovemaking with the boss, he gets rewarded with the job promotion that Wilf wanted so badly, Steve is nowhere to be seen, Paul has Sarah and Wilf now has the girl and the world at his feet!
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Next Meeting - Planning the Pitch!
See you then!
Our Idea! :D
The film is based around four office workers; Colin (the loved up guy), Wilf (the loser guy), Steve (the cool guy) and Paul (the stupid guy). Annie pointed out that we need a main guy and we should follow his story, but bring in the other characters' smaller narratives throughout the film. I think Theo is thinking that this will be Colin, but he can tell you more on that. The whole film is building up to the office party the following day, where each of them have something important happening (or so they hope) at this office fancy dress party. The theme for the party is "idols".
So, Colin ("average Joe" sort of guy) is in love with a girl from the rival department, Sarah. At the beginning of the film we see him make attempts to speak to Sarah but she is quite disinterested, and instead of impressing her, Colin spills tea all over Sarah's bag, ruining her carefully planned Minnie Mouse outfit!...A problem for Colin, considering that he bought a Mickey Mouse outfit after discovering what Sarah was dressing up as!
Wilf, the target of Steve's jokes and pranks, has been nominated to make the Marketing department's speech at the party. Throughout the film we see him plan his speech carefully, and are made aware that he is hoping that this speech will put him in first place for the promotion to Marketing Manager available. His obsession with the speech only encourages Steve and the others to make fun of Wilf even more, and we see such things as him getting rude labels stuck to his back and his stationary going missing throughout the film. However, despite Steve thinking he constantly has one over on him, it is in fact Wilf who most certainly has one over on Steve....Just as Steve sees an opportunity to "Facebook rape" him, Wilf is getting "raped" by Steve's bird!
Paul is the stupid guy. He asks stupid questions and constantly has a blank expression on his face. We see him get excited about his "idol" throughout the film, but we don't know what it is. At the party we see him come as something really stupid, such as half a horse or Humpty Dumpty or something ridiculous!
At the party, Colin (AKA Mickey Mouse) is trying to impress Sarah. She turns him down and he gets incredibly drunk, ending up on the karaoke belting out Mariah Carey's "Without you"! In the meantime, Wilf has been called away...meaning he can't do his speech! He looks for help, but Colin is too busy pouring his heart out and there's no way he's asking Steve for help...he'll just stitch him up! His only option is Paul. Wilf gives Paul his Darth Vader outfit and leaves him with strict instructions to just read the speech out through his mask and nobody will know who it is.
Wilf leaves and Paul loses the speech. He finds what he thinks is the speech and stands up in front of the crowd to read it out...but it turns out to be a sheet with song lyrics (not sure what yet, something silly or crude)! So he's ruined it for Wilf.
In the end, the boss (who we have previously seen as a stuck up, mood bitch) has let her hair down and is having a good time, extremely drunk. She takes a liking to Colin after his performance on the karaoke and he ends up forgetting Sarah and getting with her! Which ultimately leads onto him getting the promotion!
After Paul has messed up the speech, he takes off the Darth Vader outfit and puts his own back on. Whatever he is dressed up as, Sarah has a weird obsession with it and offers him a kiss/oral sex/sex. Paul shrugs and agrees.
Steve finds out that Wilf has been sleeping with his missus and we see an emotional side to him. And Wilf is happy being a lady magnet!
Anybody post feedback/ideas/anything I've missed on here please. Thanks!
Sunday, 24 October 2010
TOMORROW'S MEETING - 25.10.10
Theo, bring everything you've worked on since Tuesday please. Everyone else, bring any ideas for the characters/story. Then we can get this page outline sorted for Annie on Tuesday!
See you tomorrow
Thursday, 21 October 2010
GROUP OUTINGGGG! :D
So I've been talking with a few members of the group and we have decided that it would be such a good idea for us to all go out and do something as a group!
We thought about nights out and stuff but we'll just get pissed and not remember anything sooo this is what we have come up with:
Drive to Castleford (in my car and one other) on a Saturday that we're all free, before Christmas.
Book into a Premier Inn Hotel which is right next door to Xscape - I've looked into this, between all of us it would be £14 each.
Go to Xscape on the Saturday...it has indoor climbing (£7), Lazer Zone (£5.50), a "Vertical Chill SkyRide" which takes you above the building (inside) and you have to walk tightropes and swing from pillar to post and shit, basically an assault course but 100s of feet in the air. It has skiing/snowboarding/tobogganing (not sure how much this is, I THINK it's about £5 for tobogganing and a bit more for skiing etc), bowling, a cinema, a skate park, everything!
It also has a million restaurants so we can go out to eat at night, or just go to McDonalds or Pizza Hut depending on the funds lol, and it has bars and a nightclub so we can go out at night!
Depending on how we feel on the Sunday, we can go shopping in the big shopping area thing at the other side of Xscape, or just drive back.
If you can think of anything else we can do together, just let me know, we don't have to do this....it's just so cheap for how much we'd get to do!
Also, I'm looking into some funding for our film. I'm not saying it's 100%, but if we did get it it would be in January of next year...then I'd be able to refund you all for this trip. I think it's important that we get together away from the film for a day!
Let me know what you think.
Amy
P.S. I've sent this out on Facebook as well, just didn't know where you'd look first!
Notes from Last Meeting & NEXT GROUP MEETING
Just a quick post to keep everybody up to date with what's going on! So, we all came up with the idea of having four characters based in an office, the typical cool guy, loser, loved up guy and dumb guy, and we'd create comedy around these characters. Then Theo had an idea involving two friends attending a fancy dress party, where one of them has to make an important speech. He asks the other guy to dress up as his character just in case he isn't back, and leaves him with the speech. He goes away. The other character basically gets really drunk and makes a mess of the speech, and experiences other obstacles such as a girl coming onto him (thinking it's his friend). I'll let Theo explain his idea in more detail.
So after our meeting with Annie, where we explained these two ideas, she suggested merging them together to form one. So that's what we've done! This is the general outline in very brief note form:
Four characters in an office; loser guy, cool guy, loved up guy, stupid guy.
They are in the marketing department, who are rivals with the sales department - loved up guy fancies one of the birds in the sales department and constantly tries to suck up to her, making him the target of abuse from the marketing lads.
The loser guy is constantly being made fun of by the cool guy.
The whole thing is building up to the office fancy dress party, where the loser guy must make a speech, perhaps hoping to impress the boss for a job promotion or something? - we see him planning his speech throughout, whilst the others take the piss, and see how important it is to him.
When it comes to the party the loser guy gets called away - the loved up guy is busy stalking to sales girl and there's no way he's leaving it with the cool guy, he knows he'll show him up! So his only remaining option is the stupid guy. He gives him his costume and his speech and leaves.
Unsurprisingly, the stupid guy has too much to drink and messes it up! Maybe he could get hold of the wrong piece of paper and read out something incredibly crude or embarrassing?
We thought for the ending, that after years of the cool guy taking the piss out of the loser guy, we find out that the loser guy has been shagging the cool guy's girlfriend. And that's why he left the party!
Sorry for the lack of detail in this guys, really pushed for time at the moment!
We've decided to leave Theo to get on with developing the script on his own for a few days, plus we have studio/location shoots to be getting on with. So the next group meeting will be at 12.00pm on Monday 25th October at our house, 212 Ecclesall Road.
We can all get to know the characters more here, and throw in ideas for the script! If anybody has any ideas for the characters or the script or anything at all, no matter how big or small, write them on the blog and bring them with you to the meeting!
Hope everybody is well, see you then.
Monday, 18 October 2010
Musical Film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singing_Detective
I'll have the idea on shortly aswell !
Sunday, 17 October 2010
MEETING TOMORROW - MON 18th OCTOBER
I've arranged a meeting for tomorrow evening at 7pm. I know this is a rubbish time, but somebody is busy literally every other hour of the week so it's the best time for it! Some people have lessons/external commitments around this time, but please come afterwards! Nobody loves having night time meetings, but we really all could do with being there...at Saturday's meeting there was only Tom, Verity and me.
It will be fun anyway, we've got some good, funny ideas buzzing around! Looking forward to us all being together, that's when the most comedic ideas come up!
See you tomorrow, 212 Ecclesall Road at 7pm.
P.S. If you want to meet somewhere other than our house after tomorrow, let me know. It's only because it seems convenient with the big table/evening meetings etc, I don't mind meeting elsewhere!
Saturday, 16 October 2010
CHANGE TO TODAY'S MEETING
I've sent a text round you all but just in case you haven't received it, the meeting today has changed to 6pm at our house.
Really sorry for the short notice, but the majority of the group couldn't make the 2pm, including the director, and I think it's best that he is there too.
Hopefully see you tonight
Friday, 15 October 2010
Meeting - Saturday 16th October 2010
Because of all the studio/location shoot work next week, the best time for us to meet up is at the weekend. It has been difficult organising a time that is convenient for everybody, and unfortunately not everybody will be able to attend, but we will catch everybody up via the blog.
So, the meeting will be at 2.00pm tomorrow (16th) at our house again (212 Ecclesall Road). If anybody can't make this time but has ideas, please post them on the blog and we will discuss them/write feedback on the blog as a group.
We'll also meet up some time next week, I'll get back to you all with an exact time when I've found out your schedules for the other shoots.
Hopefully see you on Saturday x
Monday, 11 October 2010
This week - Don't Stress! :)
Okay so I know everybody is stressed/confused/overwhelmed with all this work that has been thrown our way this week. Not only do we have this project to develop for the next pitch, our specialism classes to attend, our theory modules and, for some, a language, but now we have two new projects to complete in the space of two weeks with completely different groups! Nightmare, I know.
BUT DON'T PANIC!
Your producers/directors should have been onto you about the shoots, for most groups shooting will take place on Wednesday, editing on Thursday and finishing touches completed by Friday. I know it's stressful, the pressure is unbelievable - but...after being on the course for around two weeks..in first year..with little to no experience at all in filmmaking..we all took part in and produced a two minute piece in ONE DAY.
Yes there's a lot more work to do for these two minute pieces and it's a pain getting the groups together etc, but get organised, stay away from the booze for a couple of weeks (I know, I'm finding it difficult too. ha) and enjoy the experience in your chosen field! It'll be over before we know it!
I know none of us are together for these other two short pieces, but the reason I've rambled on about them for the past three paragraphs is because it's important to me, the group and this project that none of us get bogged down, stressed, unhappy or whatever with all the other goings on around us. It will effect all of us and the project, and obvs I care about you all too so don't want you stressed!
So here is my plan concerning our project:
We meet tomorrow at 2pm (changed from 1pm) to go through the pitch last week, the questions Annie raised and future developments.
We have our meeting with Annie at 3pm tomorrow. This is a post-pitch tutorial where she will offer feedback and advice concerning our idea.
We will meet up at the weekend for a couple of hours, just to keep "in touch" with the project/idea and the group itself really, and to go over Annie's comments and developments within the project.
After tomorrow, I've decided to leave meeting up until the weekend as everybody will be busy shooting and editing the mini projects. I still want to keep in touch via the blog throughout these times. Annie's advice will be fresh in our heads tomorrow, so if we aren't available to talk after the meeting then I want any thoughts on the blog as soon as we get chance. Please check it every day, it makes life so much easier for us all!
Despite us all having so much on and our idea getting picked at the first pitch, we still have so much work to do in time for the next pitch. We'll have more of an idea of this after the meeting with Annie tomorrow. I'll make as much time as possible for the other projects, but it's important that we don't neglect this one. Plus I miss you all! There, I said it! Ha.
See you tomorrow, 2pm in the cafe on Level 5!
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Also Tom ive listened to some of the links you posted. I used the free music archive last week in editing and there is a lot of good music on there which we could use as it is not copyrighted. However if you wanted to recreate the music i think that would work really well as you could add your own input.
well done guys on the pitch on tuesday.
WELL DONEEEEE!
We've done well to get shortlisted considering how many people pitched this week, however, we still have A LOT of work to do towards the second pitch. This will be on Tuesday 2nd November.
We have a post-pitch meeting with Annie on Tuesday 12th Oct (when the group meeting was planned for), so the plan is to meet after the 11-1 lecture, go for some lunch and discuss everything mentioned in my previous post (and anything anybody else wants to discuss), then go to the meeting with Annie. I'm sure she'll give us lots of things to think about, which will help us develop all elements of the film ready for the next pitch.
I'm excited for it to come together even more!
Tuesday's Pitch and Next Group Meeting
Just wanted to say well done for the pitch on Tuesday. We had a few problems with the PowerPoint etc, but I feel that we put the idea across fairly well. Annie did highlight a couple of potential problems with the idea, which I really think need discussing as I completely agree with what she said and think that they need working on, but I'll discuss that later in the post. I'm not sure when we find out whether the idea was selected, hopefully they can see that we are very strong as a group, have most obstacles (e.g. the child actor, the location, etc) covered already, and that we will make this film happen...successfully!
Anyway, the story that we pitches was as follows:
There's a burglary at a house
The family (victims) see their insurance company
Jake takes on the case
When investigating the house, he becomes strangely attached to the couple's child
After a series of events Jake is arrested
Revealed at the end that the child was adopted - she is Jake's
We all love this idea, we love the twist and we have developed it well. However, Annie's point that we might not empathise with Jake is too important to just skip over. She's right, we won't. If we are introduced to him as an insurance broker, then see him becoming attached to a child, then find out that he committed the burglary and the child is his...Yes we'd feel a bit bad for him at the end, but what about all the way through? Our sympathy and care would lie with the family, not Jake, our protagonist.
I really feel that we need to take the idea back to Jake. We can still keep this whole story going, but we need to get to know him more before we are made to suspect him. Perhaps we could stick to our original idea, and open the film with Jake making his way to the office. We get to know him, we see his place in the office (the joker, the cool guy), then we learn that there is more to Jake than meets the eye. Maybe his boss asks him to attend a meeting on the 17th, he checks his calendar and we see his reaction to this date. We begin to wonder what more there is to know about our main guy. We can still see the family come in, Jake can take the case, and everything can happen as planned before. The reveal can still be the same, and we can still find out that the whole burglary was down to Jake. Just imagine how much more effective it would be, both the doubt and anxiety we begin to feel about Jake as the film develops, and the shock when the truth is revealed at the end, if we get to know Jake, believe him to be a different person at the start, and care about this person.
I'm going to take it that the idea has gone forward for now, I don't want to stop meeting up and developing it until we find out. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 12th October at 1.15pm in the cafe on Level 5. We can move to somewhere quieter if possible. It should only last a couple of hours, Billy has a lesson at 4pm so it will definitely be over in time for him to have a break before then!
See you then, bring any ideas/notes with you. Thank youuu.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
SOUND IDEAS
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Doc/
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/OOO_1891/http:/
/freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Inventors_of_Aircraft/
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Shatterfreak/
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
The Street
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008cbds
Monday, 4 October 2010
Pitch Tomorrow
Don't forget to dress relatively smart - not too smart, just clean and tidy will do! Our pitch slot is at 4pm, I'm not sure where it is yet but I will find out at the lecture tomorrow morning. Everybody meet outside the lecture theatre at 1pm, as the lecture finishes, when we will spend the next couple of hours before the pitch going through the PowerPoint and ensuring that we're all happy and confident with the whole idea so far.
Thanks, see you all tomorrow!
pitch
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Pitching Criteria
Genre - Specify whether it's a drama, doc etc. is it helpful to describe it in terms of genre? Does it have a tag line? (Psychological thriller/drama...)
Form - What is the length of the film? (10-15 mins)
Theme - What is the work about? This is not the story, but the underlying subject. (So in the meeting before we said domestic/family issues....Domestic drama?
Story - What is the story or stories you will be telling? Who are the characters? (Jake the insurance broker agent - his story)
Plot - How is the story ordered? If it is a simple linear tale you may not need to address this but if the plot is complex with flashbacks etc this will need to be discussed.
Visual Style - What is it going to look like? How will this look be achieved by the camera and art departments? Location? Colour palletes and shot type?
Audio Style - How will the audio be approached. Music? (Billy & Tom)
Tone - Is it comedic, tragic, dramatic? How is this reflected in the audio/visual style and performance?
Location Shots - Office, House, Girl's bedroom
Character pictures, pictures of actors (keep within your league though)
Mood Boards
Storyboards / illustrations of scenes can be used but often don't add anything to a good verbal description.
And here's a description of insurance broker..........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_broker
I think tomorrow we will be able to discuss this further and maybe il get a clearer understanding of this idea, how it will work and how we will achieve it. If the group all think this idea will work and we develop it further i am more than happy to go with it as i think we will work together well in any idea we do. I just think that if we stuck to a simpler idea we would be able to make the idea work really well and go into much more detail with the characters story etc....
Friday, 1 October 2010
I'm not saying we have to go with this idea, it's just something I've thought up and think would involve a lot of tension building and guessing etc, I'm also not saying that this is some epic scale John Dillinger bank robbery! It's a small-time office with a handful of people working there with small time criminals making a robbery. But yeah obviously it would involve quite abit of planning and research etc and good acting, because it would almost certainly be terrible with a load of students acting in it!
Anyway, just thought i'd throw that idea in there as i think it is quite a simple plot, not saying we have to use it and it could be something other than a robbery but maybe with the same kind of structure.....
Here's some key incidents/clues that I have come up with/added to.
START.
* Strange dream...don't know what yet..
* At work - acting strange - people ask if he's ok etc.
* Boss arranges group meeting for a set date - Jake reacts strangely to this, what is it?
* Back at home - See date of meeting circled on calender - Phone call (maybe gives out a number - audience doesn't know what it is)
* Next day , travelling to work, picks up something on the way - what is it?
* Late for meeting, showing signs of nervousness - keeps checking watch - get's asked questions - no reply, looks increasingly agitated - watch turns to the hour.
* Bursts up grabbing his boss, putting a gun to his head while 3 criminals come in to take the money and any of the employees valubles.
* They all rush out, including Jake.................................that's as far as I got and I don't know about the ending, obviously it would involve seeing the daughter........
Anyways I'll leave it at that for now, criticism is welcome!
Thursday, 30 September 2010
as you know amy im away this weekend at home sorry. However just let me know whats going on and il do whatever you need me to do or whatever? sorry again
Yeah i think the idea works well as a starter however i do agree with the problem with mixing between comedy and the quite serious idea of him looking for his daughter. Its quite a contrast? Maybe the thing he is searching for is something more comedic than his daughter to take away the seriousness? I do like the idea of him searching for someone in the little hints that we have discussed such as him in the park. However this may not be as realistic if everyone is wanting to keep it as a comedy. Im sure this is something we will discuss in detail tomorrow.
Also Amy, Verity and I went to look at Amy's offices yesterday to film in as the office environment and they look as though they could work well with a bit of rearrangement.
We had a productive meeting yesterday guys and am looking forward to progressing further tomorrow.
Next Meeting, Pitching details & Cinematographer
I have arranged a meeting for Friday 1st October at 12.15pm in the Cafe on Level 5. It is essential that everybody reads my previous post and brings in any feedback and suggestions, both about the story in general and in terms of your specialisms. We need to get this story as strong as possible for the pitching session on Tuesday. Our pitch will be on Tuesday 5th October at 4.00pm. This will give us a couple of hours to go through things again, after the 11-1 lecture.
Also we have a cinematographer! Jim! My sources tell me (ha) that he's pretty amazing creatively, which is goood news. He can't make the meeting tomorrow but we can keep him posted over the blog until the next time we meet.
Can everybody let me know their availability for this weekend please? We may need to meet up again before next week.
Thanks, Amy
Notes from meeting - Wednesday 29th September
Taking all of the above into account, we began to think about a group of work mates in an office. We decided that a good number of characters would be four, and imagined there to be three male characters (the protagonist 'cool' guy, the loser tag along guy who is there to make fun of, and perhaps the 'dumb' guy) and one female character.
As mentioned a lot before, despite the piece having a comedic element, it needs to follow somebody's story rather than just be a series of gags. We thought about the main character and then about what his story could be. We called him Jake, a well dressed, good looking 27 year old man, who has worked at the office for a few years. He is the 'cool guy' at the office, the joker, the others want to be on his side.
We liked the idea of him being known as this throughout the film, then there being an emotional reveal at the end - we see a different side to Jake. I suggested that he could be trying to reach a goal throughout the film, and we are led to believe that this is for a negative reason, but it turns out that it's actually for a good reason (confusing I know). For example, the guys in the office could joke about Jake constantly trying to get to know the girl in the office - they, and the audience, believe that this is to pull her, but it could be for a different reason. She could be a long lost relative, she could be the key to somebody else he wants to get close to, she could be helping him look after his ill mother. Maybe we learn that he's stealing money, but at the end discover that this is to pay for his terminally ill mother's health care.
Verity suggested that he could start acting strange, he's desperately searching for something, we believe that he is a stalker, but he's looking for his daughter who was taken away from him by her mother a few years earlier. I love this idea, it's the one I felt most excited about. However I'm concerned that it is too deep and emotional to have both this AND a comedy element to the piece. Hopefully we can work around this and get a balance that works between the two.
We started to discuss this story in terms of plot points. The film would open with us being introduced to Jake, he appears to be a laid back, chilled guy. He's well dressed for a day at the office and we see him there. He is the joker of the office, the one who they all want on their side. This is where the comedy will come in. What I'm worried about is bringing the inciting incident in, which would be when we first realise that Jake isn't all that he seems - I'm concerned that the sudden change from humour to tension won't work, but hopefully it will/we can make it! We had a few brief ideas about what the inciting incident could be. We thought that the boss could come in and mention a meeting on say the 17th September, Jake checks his calendar and we see his reaction to the mentioning of the 17th September. He zones out and his workmates are as confused as we are. We then see Jake try to be himself once more, but we question what this reaction was all about.
When Jake is at home, he goes to bed. The next morning, we see him get a drink out of the fridge. There is a calendar on the fridge. The 17th is circled. He focuses on it. His reaction shocks us once more.
We don't have an exact structure as of yet, but we thought about seeing him searching through phone books desperately, maybe following people, etc (if this isn't too extreme). We want to learn more about this other side to Jake as the time goes on. We begin to question whether we even LIKE Jake, but we're always on his side for some reason.
During act two, there will be the emotional revelation that Jake is searching for his daughter. We need to consider and work out why he seemed ok before, why he's suddenly started acting this way because of it, why he hasn't looked for her before.
As you can see, the idea is still very vague. Please all give any feedback you have on this idea, it isn't confirmed and can change slightly or completely before pitching on Tuesday. Thanks.
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Group Meeting - Wednesday 29th September
Monday, 27 September 2010
Contact Info
Thought I would give you all my number and email address just incase you need to get hold of me for something or just want to give me a friendly text one day! :)
07823776013
verityw@hotmail.co.uk
Thanks V x
Today's meeting and details for the next meeting.
Initially we imagined the characters to be male school/college students, aged between 15 and 18 years old. However, we then considered making the piece about a group of freshers living in halls together. We haven't discussed the characters in too much detail, although I imagine that they will be predominantly male. We can discuss this further at the next meeting.
As a group we thought about our own, or friends', experiences of having an annoying friend that isn't necessarily welcome in the friendship group. We shared stories and all threw in ideas about what this 'tag along friend' could do to make us laugh. The fact that we were all putting ideas and experiences out there and having a good laugh about them made it clear to me that this idea could work. I don't think we'll be struggling for ideas.
Despite getting on with this idea, I do feel that rather than it being a series of 'gags' involving the friend trying to get involved, it needs a more serious storyline to it. I don't know what this could be yet as we haven't developed the characters enough up to now, but when we do develop our characters and make a protagonist, then we can start thinking about what else could be going on with this character that can form a deeper story.
For the next meeting we will all have a think about more ideas for the story and the characters and exchange/discuss notes on these thoughts. We have also agreed that we will all watch the following, in our own time, before the next meeting:
* Episode 1 of The Inbetweeners (Can be found on 4od) - When Theo first described the annoying character, I instantly thought of Will from The Inbetweeners in the first episode, where he's constantly trying to get in with a group of friends.
* Him & Her (Can be found on Iplayer)- This is a new series on BBC3. Verity pointed out that there is an annoying character in this programme who might be worth watching. She can't remember his name but he has a beard!
* An episode of Ideal (Theo will be posting a link to the specific episode) - There is an annoying character in this episode that rambles on and on about nothing.
Tom suggesting making a musical for our final piece and had a really nice, unique idea for a musical. He suggested there being a normal story about a character, but his thoughts would be in the form of song. Then jump cut back to reality. I'd really love to produce a musical for our final piece, but I don't think it's practical. Musicals are massive productions and I don't think we have the money, actors or facilities to do this at the moment. Though if anybody can think of a way around it, we can talk about it at the next meeting.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 29th September at 12.15pm-1.45pm. Please don't be late because people have lessons up until 12pm and from 2pm onwards so we don't have much time. I know this only leaves us two days to think of some ideas and watch the clips but this is the only time all week that everybody's available. Bring any notes/ideas about our film and the TV episodes listed above, both in terms of the story itself and your individual specialisms.
Thank youuu.
Ideal - Derrick
Derrick (Alfie Joey): another regular customer whose obsession with vegetables Moz finds very boring. Although now quite scruffy and covered in dirt, Derrick once used to be a smart, suit-wearing businessman. However, when his uncle died and left him an allotment, Derrick developed a passion for gardening and became the laid back man he is now.
& heres a link for the first episode he appears in which is at the start only for a few minutes but you'll get the jist of his character and how it applies to those annoying friends that you get! Heres a list of the other episodes he appears in if you want to see more (chronological) :
- The Boyfriend (25 January 2005) - Derrick
- The Affair (1 February 2005) - Derrick
- The Backpacker (8 February 2005) - Derrick (credit only)
- The Party (15 February 2005) - Derrick
- The Body (1 March 2005) - Derrick
- The Stag Do (14 March 2006) - Derrick
- The Hydroponics (28 March 2006) - Derrick
- The Guest (18 April 2006) - Derrick
- The Nest (10 April 2007) - Derrick
- The Bath (17 April 2007) - Derrick
- The Crabs (1 May 2007) - Derrick
- The Pains (28 April 2008) - Derrick
- The Past (5 May 2008) - Derrick
- The Birthday (2 June 2008) - Derrick
- The Television (9 June 2008) - Derrick
- The Temptation (18 May 2009) - Derrick
- The Chance (8 June 2009) - Derrick
Oh yeah also here's a film which i think kind of applies to the first idea I posted, it's very funny as well, one of my favourite Scorsese films - The King Of Comedy, here's the synopsis & a link for it:
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin wants to achieve success in showbiz, by resorting to stalking his idol, a late night talk show host who craves his own privacy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeNXT8QA_EM&feature=fvw
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Timetable
Monday 9-11:30am
Tuesday 11am-1pm
Wednesday 2-4pm
Thursday off
Friday 9am-12pm & 4-7pm
Sorry I cant make the meeting tomorrow as I already agreed to work 12-5 but its usually really flexible so as long as I know a few days in advance then I can organise work around our project :) Is there any chance I could meet any of you or something after I finish so I'm up to date on stuff? my numbers 07814754236 in case anybody doesn't have it
Meeting - Monday 27th September 2010
timetable :)
monday 5-8
tuesday 11-1
wednesday 4-5
thursday 9-12
friday 9-12
amy you know i work obviously but my job is pretty flexible so shouldn't affect us at all. if we have everything planned in advance i can always get it off work if i just let them know. x
hubbas time table
17:00-20:00
Tuesday
11:00-13:00 17:00-20:00
Wednesday
9:00-12:00 16:00-17:00
Thursday
Friday
not shor iff im missing something at the moment but ill keep you posted
Me Table Of Times
Tuesday - 11.00 am - 1.00pm, 5.00 pm - 8.00 pm
Wednesday - Free
Thursday - 1.00 pm - 4.00 pm
Friday - Nothing part from footi between 7 and 10pm !X
Saturday, 25 September 2010
My Timetable
Just letting you know what my timetable is.
I have every monday off, Tuesday 11 till 1 then 5 till 8, Wednesday 6 till 7, Thursday 1 till half 2 and friday well im in pretty much the whole day!
Hope this helps you. :)
Ideassss
I'm sure some of you have had one of those friends at school or whatever who just happen to be there but you don't really like and you can't get rid of them however hard you try! I think this might work for a short film, with the protagonist trying various ways to get rid of his 'friend' but it doesnt work, until maybe at the end it works but he gets killed or something?! (it's meant to be funny though so a funny death!) Errrrrmm and yeah I have it in my head as someone who just rambles on and on and onnnn chatting shit about very very boring and insignificant things ( abit like the character out of 'Ideal' forgot his name - the one who talks about crops and that).
Subject Areas/Group Meeting - IMPORTANT
We now have a new addition to the group - Billy! Billy will be working on the sound design alongside Tom for our project. After speaking to the tutors, I've realised that it is a good idea to have more than one sound designer and cinematographer. Not only does it mean that we have two people on board who are experienced in the area and can advise/give technical feedback about each other's sound ideas, but it means that if for any reason either Tom or Billy couldn't attend a meeting/shoot, the other could come and keep everything up to date in terms of sound. HOWEVER, I'd expect that everybody in the group will want to attend all meetings/shoots, unless there is a good reason not to...hangovers don't count! I'm more than confident about sound now, which is great because it's usually the weakest area in our projects!
I need you all to let me know your timetables BEFORE tomorrow evening. I'm hoping to get us all together on Monday 27th, some time after 12pm. It's important that we meet before Tuesday as we need to have a few brief ideas to discuss with Chrissie by then. Please make a new post on the blog with your uni timetables and, if you work, any details on jobs before tomorrow afternoon so I can start arranging meetings.
I also want to know about any important dates/deadlines each of you have for all modules. This is so I can expect that you will need more time to spend away from the project around these dates. I know that we'll not have this information for a week or so, but I definitely want the details regarding this by next Sunday 3rd October - I expect that we'll have attended all lessons by then, if not then the module guides should be on Blackboard.
Finally, we still need a cinematographer and hopefully a second cinematographer. If you know of anybody doing the Cinematography strand who might be interested, let me know and we'll discuss it on Monday. I'd rather not just have friends suggested though - I don't want the working environment to be turned into a social event, it's sooo easily done. We need somebody who is skilled in the area and, more importantly, who we can rely on (to do a good job AND to turn up!)
Speak soon!
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Possible ideas
The main character is a hardworking & humorous tax official, who is in good health but is quite old.
During the Christmas period (I don't have a name for him but we'll just call him Colin for now) Colin has alot of work on his hands, when his ditzy secretary dumps a load more work on him, she jokes of him having a heart attack.
As the secretary walks off, Colin pretends to have a heart attack, the secretary laughs and leaves the room.
Throughout the day, the secretary makes various attempts to knock on his door, asking if he wants tea etc. She presumes he is busy and we see a junior employee look at the door with suspicion and intrigue.
On the second day at work we see the ditzy secretary call the junior employee to show what she has done to Colin. She has dressed him up as Santa Claus and says how funny it will be when he wakes up. The junior employee goes up to him and explains to the secretary that Colin is dead, but she still doesn't believe him, so he pulls Colin's fake teeth out and mimes with them "he's dead can you see?!?"
She finally understands, but explains that she has made the staff Christmas cards (with a photo of Colin dressed as Santa used) and already sent them out. All the staff come into Colin's office and panic..
That's as far as I got with that but it's just an idea to start with, anyone else with any ideas feel free to post them!
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Group D Productions
I've set up this blog so that we can all keep in contact over the summer and discuss any potential ideas that Theo, or anybody else, may have for our piece. I think we're looking to produce a drama piece, probably comedy, but this isn't set in stone so please post any ideas at all, no matter how big or small! It'd be great to have a few ideas to get stuck in to discussing and developing.
The crew list so far is as follows:
Director - Theo Piper-Griffiths
Producer - Amy Tuffnell
Art Director - Verity Watkins
Sound Designer - Thomas Husbands
Picture Editor - Chelsea Batchelor
As you will have noticed, we still have no Cinematographer. If you know of anybody doing Cinematography next year who may be interested in working with us, please post details on here.
I look forward to speaking to you all soon and getting some ideas rolling!
Hope you're all having a great summer.
PS. I didn't know what to call the group so went for Group D Productions - How strange that we've all stuck together from year one! :)