Proposal

Proposal Statement:

I propose to create a short thriller/horror film to develop and display my skills in this medium and to be of a quality that could be sent to a short film competition. The film I am doing is based off the Stephen King short story "The Man in the Black Suit", and ultimately I wish to use the finished film in my portfolio when applying for Film or Broadcasting school.

Key Milestones (development stages):

1. Pre-production
     1.1 Screenplay
     1.2 Story board
     1.3 Actors picked
     1.4 Locations picked and organised with owner (if applicable)
     1.5 Equipment organised
     1.6 Practice scenes with actors

2. Production
     2.1 Filming of the short film (should take a couple of days to film)

3. Post-production
     3.1 First edit of the film
     3.2 Second edit
     3.3 After Effects
     3.4 Colour Grade

Resources Required:

• Camera (Canon 550d)
• Microphone
• Tripod
• Camera Rig
• Boom
• Dolly
• Props
• Computer
• Adobe Premiere Pro (I am using this and AE as I own the software at home and already have a good understanding on how to use it)
• Adobe After Effects

Estimate Time Breakdown:

Term 1 will be spent doing Pre-production work (as seen in the key milestones) and hopefully filming will begin during the term break. Term 2 will be spent on Post-production. I estimate that the project will be finished halfway through Term 2.

My Short Film: The Man in the Black Suit

I have decided to do my short film on the Stephen King short story: The Man in the Black Suit. This story, I feel suits the style and feel that I want to make and with the right actors, cinematography and colour grade, I believe I can pull it off. As I have found my idea, I have got a lot to do which needs to get done in term one of school. If all is going to plan, I will be filming in the school holidays and then focusing on editing. During the Reproduction process I will be posting information on the blog about the script, locations for filming, actors, props etc.

2nd Film Idea: Positives and Negatives

An option for a short film idea is the Stephen King story that I found at the library. After reading it, I have decided to add a beginning and a middle part that will make it easier to inform the audience hat the main character is feeling. The story summery is this: During the present, a child discovers a chest containing an old diary, then begins to read it. In the voice over of the text, a boy named Gary describes the tale of how he escaped the devil when he was a child. Flashing back to 1914, Gary is chopping wood when his father comes and asks if he has finished his jobs. Gary says he has is allowed to go fishing. He sets off with his gear and heads down to the river. After trying to catch fish (and failing) he falls asleep. Gary wakes up with a fish tugging at the end of his line. He pulls it in and lies it on the ground flopping  around. He hears a clapping sound and the fish dies. He looks around and sees a man in a black suit standing behind him. He approaches and talks to Gary, calling him "little fisher boy" and eventually saying that his mother had died and that he was going to eat him. As the man (the devil) comes near, Gary throws his newly caught fish at him, in an attempt at buying his time. The devil eats the fish as Gary escapes, running off into the forest with the devil close behind him. After a chase sequence, Gary makes it back home and tells his father that his mother has died. He disagrees and brings Gary to his mother who is hanging out the washing. The devil seems to have gone. Back in the present, the voice over of the text reflects back to that day as an old man. He says that it was only by luck that he managed to escape and that he is too old to run, and if the devil was to return, he would surely get him. The child turns the page to see a new date, but there is no text, only blood. The child turns around to see the man in the black suit standing behind him, ending with the devil saying "Hello little reader boy".

Positives:

As the structure of the story has already been though of, I can get straight to work on the screenplay. Another positive is that the story is shorter than my previous one which means I can focus on making the film look good rather than rushing it to finish it in time.


Negatives:

The story is a bit strange and I will need make sure I get the point of the story across, which is that the main character is worried about the thought of death as he is becoming old to escape from the devil from his childhood.

A Trip to the Local Library

Today I decided to go to the library and search for books that have a collection of short stories in them. At the Library I found "Everything's Eventual" by Stephen King and a small book with a collection of short stories for teenagers. After going through them in more detail, the latter I realized did not appeal to what I was after, although a short story called "The Man in the Black Suit" in the Stephen King book had what I was looking for. After I did some research about the story, I discovered that it had not yet been made into a successful film (I say successful because the one film that had been made from it turned out to be terribly directed).

Basing My Film Off a Stephen King Story

I believe that basing my film off a short story will be a good idea for this project as I will be able to focus my time in writing a decent screenplay, rather than worrying about creating a cohesive and well paced story. As I am looking to make a horror/thriller for my project, Stephen King offers some off the best stories and it would be stupid of me not to look into them at all. A number of his stories have already been made into successful films such as "The Shinning", "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption". This shows me that his stories can be adapted well and all I need to now is find one that suits what I am after.

Other Short Films That Fit My Genre

This post will be updated as I find more short films that fit the style, feel or certain shots that I want to use in my own short film:

- I liked some of the cinematography in this short film, especially the opening shot of the door and when the main character enters the corridor.

- This is not a short film with a story, but definitely displays the style and feel that I want in my film. The cinematography in artistic and plays a lot with well framed shots and shallow depth of field.

- I also liked the style and cinematography in this film.

In Search of New Ideas

Although I have found a decent story, I am still not completely certain that it is the film choice for me. That is why I am going to and search for other ideas through research and finding inspiration from other short films on the internet. To narrow my search down, I am wanting to look for a thriller/ horror idea; a Stephen King short story may be a good place to start looking. I also want to have the story centred around a child or teenager as I have better access to actors and actresses around this age.

Short Film Competitions

I believe that it would be good to have something to else to work towards, other than just getting a good school mark for the project. After doing some research, I have found a number of competitions that I could potentially enter the film into:

http://www.onlinevideocontests.com/ - This site offers a collection of competitions from around the world, although they have quite specific requirements. If I did find one that I could do, this site would be a good option.

http://www.wintec.ac.nz/cut/index.aspx - This is a New Zealand competition, although they are looking for drama and documentary type videos and mine might not fit the specific requirements.

http://www.showmeshorts.co.nz/ - This is also a New Zealand competition and is probably the best option as they take horror/thriller shorts.

1st Film Idea: Positives and Negatives

After rediscovering an old script that my friend and I made three years ago, I think that it would be fun to play around with the concept of a school fight club. I already have an idea for this: a new kid arrives at school and joins an underground school fight club in an effort to make friends (he has had trouble fitting in at previous schools). The kid becomes the best fighter of the group and a friendship develops between him and the leader of the club. The film shows the development of the main character as he changes from a quiet and shy, well mannered boy into a violent street kid, and only realizing who or what he has become after disturbingly seeks revenge from a local gang that killed his new "best friend".


Positives:

Because of the nature of the story, the majority of the film will be shot at a school. This makes it easy for filming as it saves me from having to jump between a range of locations and that I will be able to film during class time. As well as this, all of my actors will be at school and I might be able to call upon them when needed.


Negatives:

I can see, even from this point that the cast for the film will be big as I would need actors to play the main characters, members of the gang, members of the fight club, teachers and other students to make the school seem like a school. This could potentially become a major issue as I have had experiences in the past with trying to organize actors for a shoot when they have their own priorities and don't have the same drive to make a film as myself (because this is my film and not theirs). This would cause cancellations and postponements that would risk not being able to finish the film by its due date. I also do feel that this story is quite dark and if done so terribly, it could look trashy and bad. As this film would deal with violence and teen murder, it may not be suitable for a school project.

Introduction

This blog will follow my progress as I research, plan and make a project for my Generic Technology class at school.

For this project I have already decided to make a short film, and if I have more time, a music video or another short film. I have chosen this medium as I already have a good amount of experience in film-making and wish to make something that could be used in a portfolio for when I apply for Broadcasting School at CPIT and Film School in Wellington. Film-making is a possible career path for me and this project will be am excellent opportunity for me to test and develop my abilities in an environment where time management is key, especially in for industry that revolves around reaching deadlines.