Mini one-shot project
Pre-production
Research
To begin our first mini one-shot film project, we looked at one-shot films such as 1917 and explored their defining characteristics and the considerations for their development through the creation of our PowerPoints that we made.
To understand the concept of one-shot films and how they are filmed, we watched 1917 during our session and looked at the behind the scenes of the making for the movie so that we could grasp onto what they consider when filming it, only using one camera. During 1917, we realized the many considerations they must consider when filming it, such as the weather and to see if the equipment is appropriate to achieve the desired shots. However, we understood that this was not created in one long take, but instead the film makers used techniques to create the illusion of a single continuous shot but consists of multiple carefully planned and seamlessly stitched together shots, which was interesting to find out.
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Furthermore, I also worked collaboratively during this session by creating a mind map in a group of the distinctive characteristics of one-shot films, which allowed us to share our own ideas as well as hearing other people ideas on their intake of the necessary characteristics when producing a one-shot film. For example, we wrote on our mind map that one-shot films most of the time involve inticrite choreography of both camera movements and actors' actions.
During this activity, an individual idea that I suggested when we were creating the mind map of the distinct characteristics was that one-shot films provide a real-time experience for the audience, as the viewers almost feel that they are witnessing everything as it unfolds which is important for one-shots to keep the audience engaged.
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However, during the collaborative task, I think that in the future we need to make sure that we are collaborating with everybody's ideas as we were not using everybody's ideas which reduced our Imaginate thinking when creating the mind map
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Script Treatment
To begin our first mini project of our one-shot films, we were assigned into groups where we began thinking of ideas for our one-shot film and wrote down the treatment for our idea of a script.
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In order to begin writing our treatment, we had to think of a plot idea. As a group, we wanted to do a comedy/horror type film which involved being in a school environment. From this, we produced the idea of a group of teenagers wanting to play a harmless prank on their headteacher which turned into a fight for their life's situation when the headteacher plans to attack them. From this, we got the name ‘The Wandering Wyer’ for our one-shot.
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When we began creating our script treatment, we worked collaboratively to produce the logline for it, where we all researched different films like Jaws and drew inspiration from them so that we could develop an interesting logline. Their loglines conveyed the narrative of the film in a short number of words and was up to industry standard. We developed our logline with simplicity making sure not to overcomplicate it like the films that we researched.
‘A group of teens sneak into their school to play a harmless prank when their situation turns into fight or flight.’
Furthermore, when we collaboratively created our logline, I suggested that we make sure it is concise and not too long so that it conveys the essence of the story without unnecessary details or confusion to the viewers, which was successful in engaging our readers to want to watch our short film.
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Roles
Moreover, when we wrote up the script treatment, we collaboratively decided on the roles each person should have for our mini one-shot film.
As a result of this, we decided that Carlo would be our director as he has not had a chance of being a director yet and showed us the visions he has for our one-shot film. He was also dedicated to being the writer of our script but also allowed us to help write some scenes in it as well. Furthermore, the rest of us in the group were assigned the roles of the characters in our short film. I was allocated the role of Mitchelle, Holly was appointed to be Fable, Ella was given the role of Felecity, Malachi was also allotted to be Liam and finally, Issaa was given the Headteacher.
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Moreover, we worked collaboratively to assign the roles, especially for the role of the director/script writer. We all discussed which of us had previously been a director and writer in any previous projects and decided who would be the director/script writer for this one-shot film. Carlo had been the only one out of us who had not yet had the chance to direct a project or even write a whole short film previously, which allowed us to let Carlo do it this time.
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During our collaborative task, an individual suggestion that I produced when deciding the roles was also that we should pick someone in our group that also has a tiny bit of experience so that our short film runs smoothly on set and does not slow any process down.
However, in the future, I think that we should allow someone to be the writer instead of having one person be the director and the writer at the same time as it is a lot of pressure and work to do all at the same time.
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Five point structure
During this session of writing our film treatment, we also write up the five-point structure of our one-shot film.
Writing our five-point structure was important for us to frame the screenwriting and storytelling so that we can make the script more interesting and engaging. For example, we decided that for the script's climax, the students must fight for their lives to survive the headteacher and escape the school without getting hurt. Creating this climax was crucial as we had to make sure this was the moment of greatest tension and conflict resolution in our one-shot film.
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We worked collaboratively to create the five-point structure of ‘The Wandering Wyer’ by brainstorming ideas that everyone has for the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion so that we can gain everybody’s perspective. Through these ideas that we all produced, we were then able to prioritize these grouped ideas that we made for each point, identifying the most crucial elements that will make up the five points of the structure.
An individual suggestion that I recommended for one of the five points was that for the conclusion, I thought it would be interesting if only one of the students survived instead of us all surviving so that there is a final person but to also add in a little more action. Having one person survive also allowed our one-shot film to have a cliffhanger which I thought would be enticing for the viewers.
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However, during the collaborative task, I felt that it was very time consuming going around individually brainstorming ideas, so in the future, I believe that we should all brainstorm our ideas at home before we come to class so that it does not slow the process down.
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Script writing
In this week's session, we began helping the director write the final version of our script from his first and second draft of it.
In order to write the last version of our one-shot film, ‘The Wandering Wyer,’ we all had to read the first and second drafts of our script and get an idea of how we can make the script even better for the last version. For example, in both drafts, the character Felicity, gets killed off very early in the script which I did not think made sense for her to be killed off when her character was one of the smartest and there was no motivation for her to be unlived at that moment in time. As a result, I suggested that she stayed alive with everyone until the end when we are all killed off.
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Moreover, we all worked collaboratively to write the script as we all wrote a scene each which we added in. I was able to write the ending scene where Fable is the final girl and escapes the school leaving all of her friends behind, trapped. Writing a scene each allowed us to gain more experience writing scripts, but also helped Carlo, our director, not have too much pressure on him to write the entire script by himself.
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However, during the collaborative task of writing the scenes, I think that some of the scenes did not make sense when they were put together, so in the future I think that we should help each other write the scenes in class so that we all know what we are writing, instead of doing them individually.
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Script breakdown
Furthermore, in today's session we broke down the final versions of our script and wrote all the information in a word document.
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In order to break down our one-shot film script, we had to all go through our scripts and highlight in different colours the cast, stunts, extras, special effects, props, makeup/hair, sound effects and the equipment. Breaking down the script allowed us to determine the resources needed for the production and what resources need allocating. It was very crucial for us to break it down so that we had efficient planning and execution for ‘The Wandering Wyer,’ ensuring all aspects were well-organized.
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Furthermore, we also worked collaboratively when breaking down the script by assigning ourselves separate roles for what we had to look out for in the script. For example, my role was to highlight anything in our script that needed props. Having our own roles allowed us to break down our script efficiently and quickly and write all the information needed.
An individual recommendation that I suggested when we broke down our script was to prioritize breaking down the most important and longer scenes in the script as they required more resources and planning for the scene so that it was all done smoothly.
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However, during the collaborative task, I think that in the future we should take on more than one role when breaking down the script so that it is done much quicker.
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Script Breakdown Sheets Template Workbook.xlsx
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Character bio
In this week's session, we focused on creating our character bios.
In order to begin creating our character bios, I focused on creating a mood board of my character to help me draw inspiration for Mitchelle. Creating a mood board allowed me to set the tone for my character's story, making it easier to imagine she would fit into the narrative. It also allowed me to resonate with my character traits, which helped me define their personality, likes and dislikes.
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Moreover, we also worked collaboratively in our groups when creating our character bios by helping each other hot seat our character. Hot seating our characters allowed us to delve deeper into the characters minds, emotions, and motivations. It helped us to understand our characters' backstories, desires, and personality, which led me to a more well-rounded and believable character which allowed me to write more about her in my character bio.
Furthermore, an individual action that I recommended when we were creating our character bios, was to watch films or television shows that are like our one-shot films so that we could gain an understanding to the type of characters in them type of situations and how they act.
However, during the collaborative task, it was very time consuming going through each individual character hot seating them. So, moving forward, I am going to suggest that we only ask each other 3 well-detailed questions so that we do not spend long on each person.
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Rehearsal process
During the final week of production for our mini-one-shot film, we rehearsed all our scenes and how the camera would follow us.
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As intended to rehearse our scenes, we had to be taken around by our director to various locations to understand how the camera would work and follow us around. For example, in one of our scenes we are running down along a corridor with different obstacles in our way, so we had to rehearse how the camera will show us dodging the obstacles as well as being in our POV. Practicing with the camera allowed us to make sure that for the actual shoot, our scenes would run much more smoothly.
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Moreover, we also worked collaboratively during our rehearsal process by listening to each other give suggestions on how we can make some scenes more effective. For instance, in our last scene, it ended with the camera showing us being killed by the headteacher, however we all recommended to our director that it would be even better if the scene ended with the camera looking up from fables POV to the school window where Professor Wyer would be standing holding a weapon.
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An individual action that I recommended during our rehearsals was that during the scene where we are runny away from Professor Wyer, I think it would be effective if the camera panned from us to the headteacher very quickly every couple of seconds to give the essence of panic from us running from him.
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However, during the collaborative task, I thought that it was also time consuming as we debated a lot on what we think would make our scenes better, so moving forward I am going to suggest that we all consider what each of us are saying, try, and incorporate everyone's ideas.
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One-shot film presentation
One-shot film evaluation
In my opinion, I believe that during the preparation of our one-shot film, ‘The Wandering Wyer,’ our group’s listening skills were very consistent when we were collaborating with our director so that we could grasp his vision for our scenes. However, during the preparation I do think that we should aim to improve our attendance during the rehearsals so that we could enhance our scene blocking and refine our one-shot film overall before our final performance.
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Moreover, on the day of the shoot, I am confident that our group worked immensely well in making sure that everyone brought all their costumes and props with them for their character which was very efficient and therefore reduced the need for post-production editing, saving time. On the other hand, on the day of the shooting for our one-shot film, I believe that line learning needs improving majorly as during the filming many people in our group were forgetting their lines which slowed down the process of our shoot and therefore made us film overtime.
What I did personally
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To prepare for the one-shot mini film, I created my own character bio for my character Michelle which was beneficial for my knowledge in getting an insight into her weaknesses, perspective, relationships, goals, and her motivations, which allowed me to understand a greater depth of my character and keep her consistent throughout. Additionally, in our rehearsal process, I believe that I was able to demonstrate my performance skills through using one of Stanislavski's methods, emotion memory, for my character which allowed me to tap into authentic emotions and bring depth and realism to my character Michelle. Through creating this bio, I was also able to collaborate with the director and team when we were analyzing our scripts during a table read as I was able to refer back to the character bio and share why my character acts in certain situations and therefore allow everyone else to understand how their character can react to my character. Furthermore, on the day of filming, it was my job to make sure that we had yellow lights for the scene when we break into the school, which was especially important, so that we could show that differentiation of coming from outside to inside in our one-shot. This compelled me to collaborate with Carlo, our director, to make sure that we had the keys to get the lights from the tech room, reducing any waste of time during our filming process.
Overall, I believe that our one-shot film went very well, considering that we filmed it under a short amount of time and not a lot of technical rehearsals, as we worked as a team to help each other out in pressuring times.