Development - The Synopsis

Aloha!

So, today I'll be talking about another step in the development part of my short film,

It's called the synopsis. 

In this part, me and my group had to pitch our film by telling the entire class our synopsis. 

Let me just clear up any confusions, a synopsis is - simply a clear, factual summary of the novel's/movie's story line. 

It's a bit difficult to speak of your movie and not telling them what exactly happens because you never know when you might give anything away!

Long story short, me and my group of girls had pitched perfectly and had also answered questions without giving the film away. 

Within the synopsis, we talked about our character's names, which were the following:

Michael Lewis,

Katherine Lopez

Courtney Hill

The girls are best friends and this is where Michael's character comes in..

I can't give away any more but once I've talked through most of the stages me and my group went through for this film; I'll most probably upload it onto this site!

When writing a synopsis, even if it's for a short film, it's important to highlight only the important bits. For example, for the movie i made, i said that it involves two best friends, with some background info on them and the male character but with no insight into him whatsoever. 

This leaves thee audience suspicious and wanting to know more..

What is the male character like?

Is he a good character or a bad character?

How does he enter the movie?

Many more questions should be swarming around the audience's head; and that's the whole point. 

Hopefully, that was helpful to you in understanding how me and my group created our synopsis and what should be included to make the best possible one.

Stay tuned for more stages from the film of My Best friend's Man. 

Thank you!

Development - Selecting the story and writing the script

Aloha!

In this blog, I'll be talking about one of the first steps me and my group did in order to make this short film.

This was part of a development stage and it was called 'Selecting the story' and 'Script writing'.
As you probably know, whether it's an advert, movie, story or even music video, a story line is necessary!

To be completely honest, me and my group struggled immensely when thinking of a story line; we just had too many ideas! First off, we though to make it comedy, then we thought about a cartoon/children's movie and after hardcore thinking, our story was based around a chick flick.

But this was not where our troubles ended, once there was an agreement on one idea, we had to write out what was going to happen step by step. Again, as a group of indecisive young girls, we changed our ideas many, many times.  Not because we thought they were bad but because the film overall had to flow and make sense.

Being directors and producers and script writers, we had to think about everything. 

Script writing is not only about what lines each of the characters say but also about the camera angles and off-stage action. 
As present on the left, there is an image of a script for a movie. There has to stage directions and camera angles so when the director starts producing it's a lot easier.

Scripts are supposed to be word for word to the real thing, hence they have to be given a lot of time and effort. 
Usually actors and actresses memorize their script before shooting, so they are mentally prepared for what is to happen next.




Our group had a small script and it didn't include as much detail as it should of because as I said before, we continuously made changes.This may be the reason why when the film is watched, there is not much speaking and when there is, it's not as good as it should be. 


So, lesson for next time; make a proper script and follow it thoroughly because it will be highly beneficial!

Thank you for reading!

The First Media Lesson of A Levels.

Dear my wonderful readers,

Here's an insight to what a media studies lessons can be like..

So, starting A levels can be nerve wrecking, especially when your not with your friends. It's like a whole new start. A fresh start. You don't have as many subjects as you did in GCSE's, so you focus more and your teachers expect more from you too, as you're now an adult.
But, on the plus side, it means you're one step closer to becoming what you want!

Personally, I just started A Levels, which is why I'm able to relate to it so well. The subjects that I've chosen are English Lit, Business Studies, French and Media Studies. And that leads me on to talking about my first ever Media Lesson as a sixth former...

Originally, I have two teachers for the subject, both of which I have heard many good things about.
Whoever's reading this, must be thinking why I chose to write about Media Studies and not something like French or English, well, because people usually have a lot of misconception in this subject. They think it's either too hard or too easy. let me put it this way, its definitely harder for you if you didn't do multimedia computing or computing at GCSE's. However, if you did do those subjects, then you have an idea of what Media Studies is like, but that doesn't mean you won't struggle here and there.

In my Media Studies lesson today, my teacher explained what we'll be focusing on, which is films. So during the course of the lesson, we as a class discussed the things that go on before, during and after a film is showed in the cinema hall.
There's things like the development of the film, where the producer actually selects that story he/she will be producing.
Then there's a stage called Pre-production, where the scenes of the film are rehearsed and insurance for everything single thing is purchased. For example, insurance for the actors/actresses', all the people working back stage and all the technical goods.
Next, the actual production of the film is done; so scenes are shot, the actors change into different costumes, and once the film is made, a wrap party is hosted.
After the production, there's a post-production. This is where any music that is needed in the film, is added in, trailers and posters are made, so the movie is promoted well, all the editing is complete and the film is finally locked.
Which means that it's ready to be shown to the world!
The last stage is called distribution, so, the film is released with a launch party and also means that it is allowed to be physically sent to cinema halls, and can be released on DVD.


As you can see in the photo above, an actress is on a red carpet for the launch of her new film.

So, as you can tell, for an hour's worth of lesson, that was a lot of information to take in, but then again, most of it was general knowledge.

As a first lesson, I was quite intrigued and am happy to say that I cannot wait for the future lessons of Media Studies!

I have attached a link of the visual effects behind the movie of "The Avengers", here.

Thank you for reading!