Storyboards

A few weeks ago I sketched three storyboards for my short film. While they aren't the neatest of storyboards, it's helpful to be able convey my ideas. With the storyboards I can show off my ideas easier and I can also create another storyboard with photos featuring stand in actors. With this I'll be able to clearly plan my actual short film.

I was able to create the first storyboards with stock images and Photoshop. While it still isn't overly clear, I think it's easier to understand than my hand drawn ones. 

Reflective Comment:

While my storyboards aren't the easiest to read, it's good to be able to show off my ideas. However I do really need to further develop my ideas and make it clearer what I am trying to portray.

Presentation, Final Brief Choice and Summer Review

Below is my presentation that I am to present to the class to show why I should be able to do what brief I have chosen.



I have also decided that I am going to do brief 10. The short film. It's something new and it's something I've wanted to do for years, and with five minutes to play with I feel I'll really be able to show off my skills. I still have all my materials for the documentary ready as a back up, but hopefully I won't need them! So hopefully the short film about the Grim Reaper will become a reality.

                                         
Overall, I did think I would've done more over the summer. I wanted to have over half of the pre-production complete, however I now realise that I really under estimated the amount of work that would be.

However, I'm still happy with how much I have done. Two scripts, a fair amount of research and several storyboards. I've completed ten blog posts before we've even started the year. I'm planning to keep slowly working, aiming for at least one post a week, with hopefully around 5-8 posts a month. With a steady flow of pre-production I should be able to keep ahead and minimise chances of becoming over-whelmed.

Reflection:
In reflection, I am happy with the work I have completed over the holidays. I'm confident for this year, and looking forward to it :)

Dropping a brief

So at the start of Summer I had decided to do some research and pre-production work on three briefs so when I came back in September, I would be ready no matter which brief I decided to do.

However, I have now decided to drop one of these briefs. It's probably better that I've realised this now, as it makes it easier to focus on the other two briefs, one of which I will be doing.

The brief I am dropping is brief two. This was the brief that was main product was a teaser trailer. I have to decided to drop it for a few reasons.

The first reason is that I don't think it allows to show off what I can do as well as the other briefs. Teaser trailers only last about a minute and a half at most, and that's a push. I think I'd struggle to fit what I wanted to fit in, in such a short space of time. The other briefs give me much more time and potential to show off what I can do.

The second reason is simply because I cannot find the inspiration for it unlike the other two briefs. I tried writing a script for it but I couldn't find my footing with it, and I had the same problem with the storyboards for it. I just realised that I simply prefer the other two briefs a whole lot more.

So, I've dropped that brief. This way I'll be able to focus more on the other two briefs that I actually feel that work best for me.

Reflection: I think this is a quite good thing, as it's better to realise now rather than later. As mentioned above, I can focus now on the other two briefs.

What I am planning to do over the summer

So when I come back from the summer I have to have decided which brief I want to do and I have to be able to pitch my idea to my class and teacher to convince them that my idea will work. So over the summer I have to decide on one brief.

To try narrow it down, I'm going to complete storyboards, character concepts, surveys, research and prop and costume lists. With this information I'll be able to decide what brief I wish to do and if it's possible.

Anything that I create will be uploaded to this blog over the summer.

However, for whatever brief I do I'm setting myself the task of having the following prepared for it. They are as followed: 

• Having a first draft of the script
• Deciding and identyfiying the target audience
• Having two or three storyboards completed
• Having first drafts for the designs for the characters
• Looking into music that would fit with the product
• Assembling a cast for filming
• Creating a prop list
• Creating a costume list for the characters

With this information I should be ready to present the final idea that I have decided. My aims are to finish pre-production by the end of November, so I can start production in December. Hopefully by mid Janurary I can wrap up production and finish editing by the start of February. This will lead another two weeks to clear any thing up. 

Possible Brief Ideas

So over the summer holidays we have to decide on what brief we want to do and if so, what we're going to do for said brief. I've narrowed down my ideas to just three briefs. Below I'm going to go into what I could do for each brief if I decide to do said brief.

So the first brief that I am considering doing is brief two, which is as follows.

Brief Two: A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the film
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film
• A poster for the film

I like the idea of this brief because it offers a lot of creative freedom. Also, I think a teaster trailer would be fun to attempt. However my biggest problem with this brief is the fact it's a teaser trailer, which gives me less time to truly show off my skills. A teaser trailer only last about one to two minutes, and I simply don't think this is long enough. 

However, if I do choose this brief I think I'd create a teaser trailer for a zombie horror. A horror teaser would be really interesting to make and I think it's something that I could do well. It wouldn't exactly be overly difficult either.

I have seen a wide range of zombie shows and films and I feel that I have a great understanding of the genre. From The Walking Dead, Izombie, Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days later and so so many more, I feel that there are several different sources that I could actually draw inspiration from. 

One other inspiration I have for this is a short episodic series on YouTube called Mad World. Mad World is an independent series that revolves around a zombie-apocalypse britian. While it doesn't have a massive budget it still manages to capture the atmosphere and depravity of the zombie genre. Below I have attached a teaser from the latest episode that is to come out in 2017. For a better quality version, click here.

                               

                               

The next brief that I am considering is brief seven. Brief seven is as follows.

Brief Seven: An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:

• A radio trailer for the documentary
• A double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary
• A newspaper advertisement for the documentary

Brief seven really tempts me because I love documentaries that are light hearted and look more comedic topics, and I also have a massive love for mockumentaries. Some of my favourite documentaries/mockumentaries include Indie Game: The Movie, Unhung Hero, Super high me, Supersize me and Life 2.0.

These are just a few pieces of material that I would draw inspiration from, and I probably would aim for something of a similar tone. I'm actually torn between doing a documentary about the positives of gaming, from everything from imagination to the social side of it, and doing a mockumentary about ginger people. It's hard for me to choose because I've had the idea for a mockumentary on ginger people since year ten where we had to make a documentary, but my group decided against it.

However I also dislike the negative stigma that surrounds the video game culture and I would really like to able to show the positive side of the gaming culture. I really do think that video games are an art form, while some are actually great social platforms that allow people to make friends with people from all around the world with different cultures. And to be able to explore this in a documentary to me seems like a natural cause of action.

So I am torn between these two options. One problem with this brief however, is that I've made a documentary before. And I really want to try something new. I want to create a large and varied portfolio for when I try to go to Uni so I'm hoping to branch out and try somethings that I've never made before.

Below I have attached a trailer for Unhung Hero. For a HD version click here. There also a photo of Indie Game: The Movie.

The next brief that I am considering is brief ten. Brief ten is as follows.

Brief Ten: A short film in it's entirety, lasting approximately five minutes. which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

• A poster for the film
• A radio trailer for the film
• a film magazine review page featuring the film

I think that this is the best brief for me. It's something I've always wanted to do, it offers creative freedom and it allows me to really show of my skills. I can draw inspiration from so many different sources, I have several ideas and in the future I want to work on TV/Film production, so this seems to be the most obvious choice for me. The biggest challenge for me however, is going to be fitting it all into five minutes.

I do have an idea of what I want to make. I think I want to make the short film about a man dying of natural causes and meeting Death, otherwise know as the Grim Reaper. The film follows Death in the transition between life and the afterlife as he guides this recently deceased man, who has a lot of questions about life and the purpose of it. It'd be a light-hearted take on death, life and the afterlife. I think this would be great as it's something that I could easily fit into five minutes while still being able to fit everything in.

A lot of my inspiration for this has been the several incarnations of Death/The Grim Reaper in the media. He's been portrayed in so many ways, from a true monster, a sarcastic jamaican, a sophiscated and well dressed man, a noir style detective, a dame who men strive to impress, a deep thinker and even a simpsons character. Death as a character is to me such an interesting character to explore. He can be used to scare people or to make people laugh. And I would love to try to show this in a short five minute film.

As mentioned above, there are so many inspirations from media that I can draw from. I think that of the above, Terry Pratchett's character of Death is who I will take most inspiration from, which you can read up more about here. However the internet is full of web-comics, and there are actually so many revolving around Death as a character. From Cyandie and Happiness to GiantTip, this is where I actually draw a lot of inspiration from. Below are just a few.

So in conclusion, I do have ideas for my three favourite briefs, it's just deciding on what one to do. I think that at the moment the leading choice is brief ten. I feel that it offers what's best for me and I can really seem myself doing it, and it's certainly something that I've thought about for a long time.

Over the summer I'm going to create storyboards, concept art and possibly even test footage so I can really weigh up my options for when I come back to sixth form. Anything that I do create will be uploaded to this blog.

Reflection:

In reflection I think that this post has been really helpful in mapping out what I could possibly do. I feel that since the start of this week I've narrowed down the briefs from twelve to five, and now down to three.

I believe this post took about three hours to complete. However most of my time was taken up compiling my research together and trying to put my thoughts into words, as I struggled to explain what I had planned for brief ten. 

Media Briefs

Recently we were given the briefs for our media coursework that we will be working on later this year. We have been given twelve briefs that all revolve around different forms of media. We have to choose one, so I'm just going to go through each individual brief and explain the pros and cons.

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Brief One: A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the band
• A cover for its release as part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)

I find brief one quite interesting as I've never created a music video. I think it'd be a good challenge and would be fun to produce. The three options however do not interest me. I don't know enough about website design to create a homepage without extra research. The two other options include graphical design which isn't my preferable area of media.

Below I have attached some albums and their covers that first came to mind when thinking about examples and inspirations.

Examples and inspirations: The beatles cover,  Nirvana: Nevermind and Pink Floyd: Dark Side Of The Moon

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Brief Two: A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options. 

• A website homepage for the film
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film
• A poster for the film

This is my favourite brief of the lot, as film making is what I want to do with my future. This brief offers a lot of freedom and it's something that I believe I can excel at. Looking at the three options, I like the idea of making a poster a lot. Being able to design a really professional looking poster with a film magazine front cover is something I would love to do. As mentioned before, the website homepage is not something that interests me. I also feel I could draw a lot on inspiration from several independent short films I have seen from the past.

Below I have attached some film trailers and a poster that first came to mind when thinking about examples and inspirations.

Examples and inspirations: Kick-Ass, The Walking Dead and Star Wars Poster.

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Brief Three: An advertising package for a new product or service, to include two TV advertisements, together with two of the following three options.

• A radio advertisement
• A TV program sponsorship sequence
• A web pop-up.

This brief doesn't really interest due to the three options. Producing the two TV advertisement is something that I would like to do, but I'm really not that experience with radio and I do not like the idea of creating a web pop-up.

Below I have attached some service adverts that first came to mind when thinking about examples and inspirations.

Examples and inspirations: Netflix advert, Hulu advert and Sky advert.

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Brief Four: A promotion package for a new computer/videogame, to include two TV advertisements, together with two of the following three options

• The cover of the game's package
• Two hyperlinked pages from the games' website
• A magazine advertisement for the game

This brief would be better for me if we had better equipment. To advertise this game I would have to create some sort of demo of the game, and we don't have the equipment for that. Not to mention I wouldn't know how to do that even if I wanted to. However it is worth noting that I do play a lot of video games, including a lot of independent titles, so I would a fair amount of knowledge surrounding the genre.

Below I have attached a game trailer, a game case and a game magazine cover, as these first came to mind when thinking about examples and inspirations.

Examples and inspirations: Mass Effect 2 trailer, The Last of Us case and PC Gamer cover.

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Brief Five: A promotion package for a new soap opera, to include a TV trailer, together with two of the following three options

• A listings magazine front cover featuring the new soap
• Two hyperlinked webpages (with video extract) for the soap's website
• A poster for the soap

While this brief would be accomplishable and I do quite like the three options given, the actual genre itself isn't something that I would be interested in working on. I've never been fond on soap operas and I think I would struggle to stay truly committed to the project, especially when there are better briefs suited for me. 

Below I have attached a couple of trailers and a soap opera magazine cover, as these first came to mind when thinking about examples and inspirations.

Examples and inspirations: Soap Opera magazine cover, Easterenders trailer and Emmerdale trailer.

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Brief Six: A selection of materials related to an original children's TV drama, to include the title sequence of the TV program, together with two of the following three options:

• The front cover to a magazine for the series
• A DVD cover for the series
• A radio advertisement for the magazine

I don't think I'll be doing this brief simply because of the three options. While the idea of a children's TV drama is intriguing due to the fact I've never done anything on it before, the graphical design and radio aspects put me off the brief. Also, as intriguing as it sounds other briefs offer more creative freedom.

Below I have attached a couple of trailers and a soap opera magazine cover, as these first came to mind when thinking about examples and inspirations.

Examples and inspirations: Tweenies DVD cover, Teletubbies DVD cover and Henry Hugglemonster opening titles.

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Brief Seven: An extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:

• A radio trailer for the documentary
• A double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary
• A newspaper advertisement for the documentary

This is one of my favourite briefs despite not being overly fond on the three ancillary options. I have several ideas for this brief, some light hearted documentaries or maybe even a 'mockumentary'. However, I have done this before as this brief is similar to my year 10 coursework. Also, as mentioned above, the three ancillary options put me off the brief.

Below I have attached a couple of trailers for a couple of documentaries that I would draw inspiration from.

Examples and inspirations: Indie Game: The Movie trailer, Unhung Hero trailer and Supersize Me trailer.

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Brief Eight: The first two pages of a new local newspaper, together with two of the following three options:

• A poster for the newspaper
• A radio advertisement for the newspaper
• Two hyperlinked pages from the paper's website

This brief really does not interest me. I don't like the actual product I'd have to make or the ancillary markets that would have to be made with it. Also, the newspaper side of the media is not something I am interested in any way and it's also not something I wish to continue with in the future. So it's almost definite that I will not be choosing this brief.

Below I have attached a some newspaper covers that I could possibly use for inspiration.

Examples and inspirations: Sun Newspaper Cover, Daily Mail Newspaper Cover and The Times Newspaper Cover.

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Brief Nine: A website for new TV channel (to include a minimum of three hyperlinked pages with original images, audio and video extract) together with two of the following options:

• A newspaper advertisement for the channel
• A double page spread for a listings magazines, focused on the channel's launch
• an animated ident sequence for the channel

This brief isn't the worst but I'm not sure it's for me. While I do want to work in the TV industry I want to work in the productive side, actually making shows that appear on the channel. Designing a website isn't something I'd excel at either.

Below I have attached a few channel websites that I would use for inspiration.

Examples and inspirations:BBC Website, Channel 4 Website and Mustard TV website.

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Brief Ten: A short film in it's entirety, lasting approximately five minutes. which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options

• A poster for the film
• A radio trailer for the film
• a film magazine review page featuring the film

This is easily my favourite brief. It offers me the most freedom to create something I want to, I like 2/3 of the ancillary tasks which is perfect and I think I'd be able to excel at it. Creating a short story in five minutes would be a challenge but not impossible, and two tasks that I would do would be making a poster and a film magazine review page. I really do think that this will be the brief that I will continue with.

Below I have attached some trailers to some independent films and a film poster in the style I would like to replicate and that I would draw inspiration from.

Examples and inspirations: Mad World Trailer, Project Library Trailer and James Bond minimalist poster.

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Brief Eleven: The first level of a new computer/video game, together with two of the following three options:

• The cover of the game's package
• A magazine advertisement for the game
• A radio advertisement for the game

As mentioned earlier in this post, I do know a lot about the videogame genre, however we do not have the equipment in school to actually create something that I feel would fully show of my skills. However making the cover for the game and a magazine advertisement is something that I would love to do.

Below I have attached some material that I could use for inspiration.

Examples and inspirations: Batman Arkham City poster, Fez trailer and Broforce trailer.

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Brief Twelve: An extract/package from a local TV news programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three:

• Two hyperlinked pages from the programme's website
• A generic radio trailer for the programme 
• A short title sequence for the programme

This brief is actually quite interesting, however due to the lack of freedom to create something I want I have decided that this brief is not for me. I do not wish to work on any website for my coursework and as mentioned several times in this blog plot I do not wish to work on anything radio-related. The short title sequence however would be fun to make, especially if I was able to animate it.

Below I have some attached some materials that I could use for inspiration.

Examples and inspirations: BBC intro, Mustard TV Intro and The Mustard TV website. 

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Reflection:

This post really helped me understand what brief I wanted to do. Going through each individual brief and thinking about what I would like to do and what simply does not interest me. In conclusion, the briefs I am trying to decide between at the moment are 1,2,7 and 10. However I think brief 10 is most likely to be what I do.

Overall I think I spent about five hours on this post. The process of copying all the information down took up most of the time, and research a bit of background around the briefs took a fair amount of time also. 

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