Thursday, 30 September 2010

I feel our idea has come along a fair way since Theo's first idea. I am really keen on the office idea and the main guy having this seceret that know one knows about untill the end. I agree though I don't think it could be a comedy and a serious drama. I feel it would be stronger if we keep it as the serious drama as comedy is quite hard to pull off, a good comedy at that!! I think we could still have some comedy in it as the main guy could be a funny man, having a joke in the office but obviously the more serious elements wont be funny. I don't know what everyone else thinks but I think we should lose the whole comedy. I guess we will discuss this more tomorrow! See you then.
hi guys.
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

Hi guys

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

After speaking to Billy about the ideas we came up with in the last meeting, he suggested that we should stay away from the student environment and perhaps put the same characters in a different environment (e.g. an office). Although I like the idea of making a comedy on a group of freshers, I do think that we'd need to be very careful not to make the piece look like a lot of other student films - set in student accommodation with students acting in them. I also struggled to think of a protagonist in the group of friends, and we couldn't decide on what any of their stories could be to base the film on.

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

Just a quick reminder about the meeting tomorrow - 12:15-13:45 in the cafe on Level 5 of Owen building. Please bring any notes on the clips you've watched, anything good/bad you thought about them or anything that relates to our piece would be great. Also bring any ideas you've had for our piece in general - Theo will be pitching next week so we need to get cracking! Thanks, see you all tomorrow.

Monday, 27 September 2010

Contact Info

Hey everyone,
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.

At today's meeting we discussed Theo's 'Annoying Friend' idea further. Theo explained that he'd just had a thought about making a comedy involving a group of friends who have a 'tag along' friend that they're constantly trying to get rid of. The comedy element of the drama piece would be made through the 'tag along's' attempts at fitting in with the group of friends, their reactions to this, and the ways in which they try to get rid of him.

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

Right here's a brief description from wikipedia on 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) :

  1. The Boyfriend (25 January 2005) - Derrick
  2. The Affair (1 February 2005) - Derrick
  3. The Backpacker (8 February 2005) - Derrick (credit only)
  4. The Party (15 February 2005) - Derrick
  5. The Body (1 March 2005) - Derrick
  6. The Stag Do (14 March 2006) - Derrick
  7. The Hydroponics (28 March 2006) - Derrick
  8. The Guest (18 April 2006) - Derrick
  9. The Nest (10 April 2007) - Derrick
  10. The Bath (17 April 2007) - Derrick
  11. The Crabs (1 May 2007) - Derrick
  12. The Pains (28 April 2008) - Derrick
  13. The Past (5 May 2008) - Derrick
  14. The Birthday (2 June 2008) - Derrick
  15. The Television (9 June 2008) - Derrick
  16. The Temptation (18 May 2009) - Derrick
  17. The Chance (8 June 2009) - Derrick
Yeah safeee anyway boys and girls, i'll probably be sticking some more ideas up here tomorrow so watch this space!

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

Hey guys my timetable is:
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

Hey everyone, tomorrow's meeting will be at 12.30pm in the cafe on level 5 of Owen building. Please bring any ideas/notes with you. Thank youuu.

timetable :)

hi guys. right im in...
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

Monday
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

Monday - 9.00 am - 11.30 am
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

Hey Amy!
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

Hellllllllooooo right got summet here and I'll try an get some more stuff on soon.....

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

Hey guys

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!