Ideas

An idea that we have decided to develop further is one of a person goes to the restroom on a date or is getting ready for the date and everything goes wrong. This would mean that the film has just two or three filming locations and that the majority of filming would take place in a controlled and contained environment and therefore be easier than an outside shoot from a lighting and conditions perspective.

For this idea we would probably go down a more slap-stick and broad route. Some similar scene as shown below.

Along Came Polly (2004) Dir. John Hamburg

Bean (1997) Dir. Mel Smith

There's Something About Mary (2007) - Dir. Farrelly Brothers

Research

We have been discussing different ideas for the film and have come across some initial examples for research.

Man Stroke Woman - The Walk Of Shame

This is a really well executed sketch which touches on the theme of anxiety and relationships. It is a really nice and simple idea played out over just under a minute and has almost no dialogue. This is the sort of thing we would love to do.

We have been talking about our film opening with a scene of someone getting ready for a date or travelling to a date as this would give us numerous ways to establish character without the use of dialogue (such as a clumsy character tripping up on their way there or an unfortunate character being drenched by a passing car).
With the scene in mind I wanted to touch on the idea that at first the character feels happy and as though everything is going to go well. This brought me on to a section of this scene from 4:25 onwards from the film Liberal Arts (2012) by Josh Radnor.

This section really amps up the feeling of 'all being well', again with the use of little or no synch sound and the application of music to convey mood, the use of voice over and point of view is great as it really gives you a sense of being with the character, as does the way that strangers are smiling back at him and looking directly down the lens.

First Group Meeting

We met as a group and have established that we would like our 2 minute piece to be a comedy with the main theme of anxiety.

We discussed subject matter and decided that the film will be about dating/relationships and the anxiety that surrounds this. We wanted to keep the idea relatively simple because of the allotted run time.

First Brief

Our first brief of the module is to create a 2 minute long character study in groups.
The character must have a clear emotional need and we must convey this a the main focus.
The film must be an exploratory exercise for our group's main piece which will be a 5-10 minute film centred around the same emotion.

The 2 minute piece must contain no synch dialogue.

For this project I will be part of a group that I have worked with before although for the first time I will be taking up the directorial role.

The other roles will be:

Producer - Paul Phillips
Cinematographer - Lucy Parkinson
Art Director - Tony Thrussell
Editor - Daniel Wild
Sound Design - Joe Walker

As this is my first time directing my main focus is going to be on creating a functional and coherent film and hopefully with the help of my group add our own unique style to the piece.

In my role as director initially I will be helping to develop ideas and then be part of the writing process with the rest of the group. I will then try and help everyone in their specific roles on a creative level (such as location scouting and casting). Before filming I will have collaborated with everyone to have a plan each aspect of the film and the shoot itself and then on the shooting days I will work with actors, control the set and hopefully tell a story using my own vision and the creative input and help of the crew.

Creating Development Exercise

We were asked to create a character with a clear emotional want and need and then elaborate as much as we could on their story. We had to give them a name, age, want and reason they can't have their want. For this we also all picked a piece of paper at random with a story element on it.

Mine was: What nobody ever told you.

I created a 10 year old character called Gary. I wanted his setting to be a school and his want to be an emotional want as opposed to a material/physical want.

I had the idea of Gary's want being a desire to fit in with a 'cool' group at his school and that nobody has ever told him/ he has never realised that he is bigger and stronger than his peers. 

This realisation causes inner conflict for Gary because although he the becomes part of the 'cool' crowd, his new friends want him to use his physicality to their benefit and throw his weight around.

There are 2 ways the story could go, Gary could start to abuse his power and do the bidding of this group or he could refuse and be cast out by them. The story could come full circle when Gary, because of his pacifism, befriends a nice, non-violent group of children.

Because this idea is set in a school and centred around somewhat stereotypical character types I thought it would work well as an animation in which the characters are portrayed as anthropomorphic animals such as a gorilla or elephant for Gary as he is a gentle giant type character and a snake as the leader of the 'cool' group who attempts to lead Gary astray.

The whole idea for this made me think of the film Let Him Have It (1991) by Peter Medak in which a young man with learning difficulties is coaxed into crime by a group of wannabe gangsters.