(14) My Plan
What Is Your Idea So Far?
I have an idea as to what I want my short film to entail, however, I may change it entirely because of its difficulty and ambitious nature.
It's quite complicated to explain, but I'll try my best:
As it stands at the moment, I want to create a political short film set in the time leading up as well as the aftermath of a terrorist attack. As it's an extremely sensitive topic, I want to set it in a fantasy land, in which nothing is industrialised: the character's all live in a natural environment like a forest etc. The reason for this is so that it doesn't hit as close to home, furthermore, it allows me more creative freedom, being a fictional world.
The film will contain two conflicting sides: the 'River Folk' and the 'White Cloaks' (the difference between both sides will be signified by different colour clothing).
There are two leaders/public figures among the White Cloaks who are referred to as 'The Preacher' and 'Bleedingheart'. The Preacher is a conservative extremist who preaches hate for the River Folk. He uses the media (a town crier) and public sermons to taint the minds of the White Cloaks and justify his reasoning for invading River Folk territory for resources. Bleedingheart, on the other hand, is a peace advocate, who dedicates her time to reversing what the Preacher has drilled into the minds of the people. She is an example of a brilliant leader, making herself equal with everybody. Because of her excellent display of leadership, she's a large threat to the Preacher, though. She understands the true, peaceful nature of the River Folk. (her name originates from the insult 'Bleedingheart', which I used to empower her rather than use as an actual insult).
There is a third main character: a young man who represents youth. He finds himself drawn to Bleedingheart, however, is very emotionally driven, displaying signs of extremism.
The attack is made by an estranged member of the River Folk, and the victims include members of both the White Cloaks and the River Folk. The Preacher uses the attack to gain political merit and to launch public attacks on the River Folk and 'traitors' who try to protect them.
I don't want to go into the full detail of the plot as I'm still working on it, however, I am almost certain that this is the idea I will stick with. The film will reflect leadership, however, the main message will be about how we, the public, consume the things politicians and the media say, as well as how our own hate can consume us.
Who are You Planning on Working With?
For this project, I plan to work alone. Although I am still open to working in a group, I have opted to work alone because I really don't want to compromise on my own ideas because I'm so set on exactly what I want to do. This wouldn't be fair for other group members too, as I would probably end up dismissing any of their suggestions. Furthermore, working alone will help me improve my skills in all areas of filmmaking as I'll be working as the director, cinematographer, editor etc. This will benefit me in the future as I have practised and refined these important skills. Another reason working alone will benefit me is that I don't have to rely on other people to firstly, get the work done, but I also won't have to rely on their schedules. This means I have a more lenient schedule as I'll only have to rely on mine and the actors'.
On the other hand, I know that working alone will bring many pitfalls too. Firstly, even though I didn't struggle alone last year, this year's work will be a lot harder, which means I will likely struggle more, especially when attempting to balance other subjects. Furthermore, I will have up to 4x more work to do than a group of four, which I may struggle with. Also, handling all of the roles on set will be extremely difficult, especially when dealing with something as hard as a short film which will require managing audio equipment too. To overcome this, I will need to have extremely precise organisation - I also will avoid acting in my own project as that will be one less job to handle. Lastly, working alone means I don't have anybody to fallback on if I struggle with a particular role. For example, I'm not very good at editing, as the only editing I've done is on my AS coursework. I don't have anybody in my group to help me edit this project, especially something as long and complex as this.
Where Do You Want To Film?
I haven't quite begun planning my exact locations to film in. However, I know that it will be set in natural environments and that the River Folk live by a river/lake (so there's a place to start). The main problem I will come across using a location like this is, firstly, most rivers and lakes are very dangerous and can therefore not be entered. Secondly, most lakes (which is my preferred location) are privately owned, meaning I can't gain access to these. So finding a lake that you're allowed to stand in/gain access to is going to be a difficult chore. This may mean I'll have to rethink locations.
Having spent some time looking for places to film, I have searched up some public waters (though there aren't many). The only one I could find that was local to me was Lynford Waters.... though this may be difficult to reach for my actors.
In terms of time. I know I will be filming in the mornings and evenings, as midday is when the sun is too high, creating terrible lighting conditions. Direct sunlight is also damaging to cameras, and my almost decade old camera can only take so much damage.
So that's all I have for my idea so far. I'm super excited to produce this film and I can't wait to start planning and eventually filming.
I have an idea as to what I want my short film to entail, however, I may change it entirely because of its difficulty and ambitious nature.
It's quite complicated to explain, but I'll try my best:
As it stands at the moment, I want to create a political short film set in the time leading up as well as the aftermath of a terrorist attack. As it's an extremely sensitive topic, I want to set it in a fantasy land, in which nothing is industrialised: the character's all live in a natural environment like a forest etc. The reason for this is so that it doesn't hit as close to home, furthermore, it allows me more creative freedom, being a fictional world.
The film will contain two conflicting sides: the 'River Folk' and the 'White Cloaks' (the difference between both sides will be signified by different colour clothing).
There are two leaders/public figures among the White Cloaks who are referred to as 'The Preacher' and 'Bleedingheart'. The Preacher is a conservative extremist who preaches hate for the River Folk. He uses the media (a town crier) and public sermons to taint the minds of the White Cloaks and justify his reasoning for invading River Folk territory for resources. Bleedingheart, on the other hand, is a peace advocate, who dedicates her time to reversing what the Preacher has drilled into the minds of the people. She is an example of a brilliant leader, making herself equal with everybody. Because of her excellent display of leadership, she's a large threat to the Preacher, though. She understands the true, peaceful nature of the River Folk. (her name originates from the insult 'Bleedingheart', which I used to empower her rather than use as an actual insult).
There is a third main character: a young man who represents youth. He finds himself drawn to Bleedingheart, however, is very emotionally driven, displaying signs of extremism.
The attack is made by an estranged member of the River Folk, and the victims include members of both the White Cloaks and the River Folk. The Preacher uses the attack to gain political merit and to launch public attacks on the River Folk and 'traitors' who try to protect them.
I don't want to go into the full detail of the plot as I'm still working on it, however, I am almost certain that this is the idea I will stick with. The film will reflect leadership, however, the main message will be about how we, the public, consume the things politicians and the media say, as well as how our own hate can consume us.
Who are You Planning on Working With?
For this project, I plan to work alone. Although I am still open to working in a group, I have opted to work alone because I really don't want to compromise on my own ideas because I'm so set on exactly what I want to do. This wouldn't be fair for other group members too, as I would probably end up dismissing any of their suggestions. Furthermore, working alone will help me improve my skills in all areas of filmmaking as I'll be working as the director, cinematographer, editor etc. This will benefit me in the future as I have practised and refined these important skills. Another reason working alone will benefit me is that I don't have to rely on other people to firstly, get the work done, but I also won't have to rely on their schedules. This means I have a more lenient schedule as I'll only have to rely on mine and the actors'.
On the other hand, I know that working alone will bring many pitfalls too. Firstly, even though I didn't struggle alone last year, this year's work will be a lot harder, which means I will likely struggle more, especially when attempting to balance other subjects. Furthermore, I will have up to 4x more work to do than a group of four, which I may struggle with. Also, handling all of the roles on set will be extremely difficult, especially when dealing with something as hard as a short film which will require managing audio equipment too. To overcome this, I will need to have extremely precise organisation - I also will avoid acting in my own project as that will be one less job to handle. Lastly, working alone means I don't have anybody to fallback on if I struggle with a particular role. For example, I'm not very good at editing, as the only editing I've done is on my AS coursework. I don't have anybody in my group to help me edit this project, especially something as long and complex as this.
Where Do You Want To Film?
I haven't quite begun planning my exact locations to film in. However, I know that it will be set in natural environments and that the River Folk live by a river/lake (so there's a place to start). The main problem I will come across using a location like this is, firstly, most rivers and lakes are very dangerous and can therefore not be entered. Secondly, most lakes (which is my preferred location) are privately owned, meaning I can't gain access to these. So finding a lake that you're allowed to stand in/gain access to is going to be a difficult chore. This may mean I'll have to rethink locations.
Having spent some time looking for places to film, I have searched up some public waters (though there aren't many). The only one I could find that was local to me was Lynford Waters.... though this may be difficult to reach for my actors.
In terms of time. I know I will be filming in the mornings and evenings, as midday is when the sun is too high, creating terrible lighting conditions. Direct sunlight is also damaging to cameras, and my almost decade old camera can only take so much damage.
So that's all I have for my idea so far. I'm super excited to produce this film and I can't wait to start planning and eventually filming.
Comments
Post a Comment