The Importance of Education Short Film

                                             On with the Show

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This week I am glad to be able to say that I have finalised the cast in which I will be working with as both actors have informed me that they are definitely up for doing the film and I now decided on a date for the filming to take place which they have also agreed to but is now a matter of getting the legal permissions approved by the university to film on the university grounds with the cast and crew.

Personally I am hoping that there are no further problems with the cast members dropping out because I personally feel that these members are truly fitting to the roles. I will not be revealing in this post who the actual finalised cast members or crew are for their own privacy as I feel it is best to keep it confidential and professional.

I have been in touch with a student who has said that he will be able to possibly produce a film score soundtrack for my film should I need. His name will be available on request for tutors of the university only. This is good to know as a back up in case I have some issues or troubles finishing and creating my film score soundtrack music.

I have been visualising how the actors would interact with each other in the film and taken some notes of how the body language should be presented in order to communicate to the audience what type of person they are in the story (e.g: friendly, arrogant, selfish, awkward, shy and upset).

I have also changed and selected some better brand new copyright free music as a back up just in case I couldn't get the soundtrack finished on time. I have wrote some additional scene for the two actors for when we film that would do great as extra scenes to place within the film. This extra scene being a scene where the ex girlfriend of the main character is happily enjoying her time with her new boyfriend under a tree. This scene I feel will be good for the film because their new found glory will be the ultimate sadness for the main protagonist and will make the audience care about the main character and feel sympathetic for him which is important as the audience need to feel a connection and care about the character and what is happening in the film in order for it to be a film that people can relate to.

Other than that I have been working on completing the legal paper works such as the risk assessment, call sheet and location release form requests to send off for approval.  Then we can begin our first filming session which will be interesting and our first step towards the goal.

                      The Importance Of Education - Script Expanding and Improving

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This week I have been taking upon me to include greater range in the story by including the characters Camila and her boyfriend in the story to have some dialogue and interaction with my character as I feel it will bring a dramatic feeling to the film and give the audience a nice control intermission from the constant narrator dialogue over the scenes style of directing.

I wanted to show that I can produce both types of film which I why I have made adjustments to the script in the way that if I couldn't get these shots for whatever reasons I will still be able to produce the original idea of the film I had in mind where the narrator's speech is placed over the top of the events happening in the student's life which is being shown visually.

I wanted to create an intense scene where the boyfriend and the guy who got cheated on in the story would meet to discuss and sort things out in a diplomatic way or at least try to and put the audience on edge and make them feel like a fight could start at any moment. I feel this would be exciting and makes the audience care and sympathise with the student character even further as it is important that the audience feel a connection with the character and the story.

I have also included in the script some new dialogue for the character Camila who is the love interest of the student and a scene of her confession of her love for him followed by a scene of her telling him that she has found another and breaking his heart.

Relationships are a common theme in life and I felt that although the film's main purpose is to exaggerate the importance of education in life, I also felt that the film could benefit from having a relationship element to it to draw the audience into the story.

I have been talking to three contributors, one male actor and one female actress who will ultimately make the love triangle element complete. I have also created some intense music for these scenes which I am looking forward to showing in my film providing it has the intended affect that I am searching for being of both heartbreaking and motivating at the same time as if the bad things that are happening to him are motivating him to action for a better good.


Harvard Referencing: Research

FilmSkills - How to Write a Script - Story Structure, 2008, 'Filmskills', [Video File], [Online], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0yqUmedyOM [ 17/12/2015]



Making movie music - getting started, 2012, 'Neumannfilms', Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WopdkBci3vs [Accessed 17/12/2015] 

                              The Importance Of Education: Professional Practice

                                        Visual Concepts and Editing Training

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In this last week I have been making great use and practice with the practice test footage of scenes I recorded for camera shot ideas that I would use in my film. I have been using what I learned from the editing workshops in terms of colour correction and how to produce better looking visual elements.

I have been experimenting with the idea of 'Reflection' as being an area of the life of the student character in my story where he hits the crossroads and begins to reflect on the mistakes he has made and begins to realise what he should've done the first time around.

I thought what better way to show a sense of reflection than to use an actual visual representation of some sort of reflection. Normally the most easiest one to do would be a window and show his reflection but this felt almost too easy.

My second idea was to show his reflection in a cracked glass to represent that his life and soul has been smashed but then I thought of a more complicated idea but with a better result. I had made a puddle using several buckets of water and places this in the forest area and used the puddle to show his reflection.  This works greatly in the sense that he is now looking down on himself visually and then he walks away from his reflection because he doesn't like what he sees.

This idea of the water reflection came from to me from the film 'The Lion King' (1994) and I just thought that I simply have to have this motivational shot in the film.


I found similar videos that covered the similar techniques that I was taught in Adrian Butterworth's advanced editing classes which I felt I should do some extra studying and recapping on the techniques he mentioned.

I have started to refresh by doing some practice with the teaching materials in premiere pro and just getting used to the ins and outs of the editing process and shortcuts such as the I and O for in and outs and the three point editing system.

Harvard References: Bibliography

Mufasa's Ghost - The Lion King, (2011), 'Lionkingsongs', [Video File], [Online], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_OMPrqhA_4 [Accessed 10 December 2015]


Getting started in premiere pro in 10 minutes, (2012), 'Softwaremedia.com', [Video File], [Online], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVR8S1-a6Ak [Accessed 10 Decomber 2015] 

                                             The Importance of Education
                                                Character Development

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Recently I have been working for other people's projects which weren't necessarily the original other people's projects I agreed to with the exception of one which was Callum Blitz radio drama project of the 'Tale Tell Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe where I played a voice actor of a removal man along with several other actors. This project is now completed and was in my original negotiated learning agreement but I have also completed two other projects which I believe serves as a form of research and personal practice for my own project as I was an actor in these last two projects.


The first film being a short film for Oliver Mays team in Television Production titled 'Junk Mail' I believe where I played 'Ian' who is a stressed business man called Ian who is down on his luck with work, life, love life and overall just negative outcomes in his life but the film shows how changing your mindset and outlook can help you to have a better life.


This film I felt was a great practice for the character I will play in my graduate project which is very similar to Oliver's project as it revolves around changing your behaviour and mindset in order to get back on track of life.


The second film project I was featured in was 'On the Edge' for Wing Tam's film group which I played the character of 'Oliver' who is a drug addict whose older self comes back in time to warns him to change his ways and not to influence his friend to become a drug abuser too.


I feel that this project as helped train me for the character I will play in my graduate film project about 'The Importance of Education' as it again was based on changing the outcome of ones future.


From here I have been developing my character for the graduate in terms of appearance and behaviour in two stages. I had been watching two videos online which had influenced me to focus now on the development our the protagonist in my story and how he will end up towards the end and what difference will be made in terms of character development. These two videos can be found at the end of this post in the Harvard references section.


 The two stages will be the beginning version of my character who is a failure who dresses with wool hat, hoodies and pretty much what you would expect a youngster to wear and then we have the developed version of the character that we see at the end of the film which is the business man, sharp and smartly dressed, reliable version of the character.  I feel this motivation is important for the audience to see character development to help assist getting the message across.



Harvard References

5 secrets to writing a bestselling novel - secret #2: creating memorable characters', (2013), 'Write to sell book' , [Video File], [Online], Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVjwUry2ZDk [Accessed 04/12/2015] 


Starting to write: developing character, (2012)  'Writing .ie',  [Video File], [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0VCBshzYk4 [Accessed 05/12/2015]