Our First Film

 

In this honors film class we are splitting up into groups and each group is making a short two to five minute films. Each group has a genre and every group much have certain things incorporated into the film. There must be a mine or clown, the line “Why is this happening to me today of all days?” and "It would be better for us not to talk about that,” a guitar, a cheese grater, and a skull.

My group’s film must be a romance. We started out imagining some kind of chase. For example, a high speed bicycle chase. We were getting excited about our idea when we discovered our film was a romance, not a comedy or action film like we had hoped. So, we had to adapt. We began thinking about how we could turn our idea into a romance film. We decided that we could have a scene of a couple saying their goodbyes as one gets on a train or in a car. The other would watch her drive away and then realize he didn’t want her to leave. The film would then consist of various scenes where the man is trying to chase down the car (or train) and get back to his love. We have yet to decide on a good ending for this idea.

We also talked about another idea involving a one sided romance. This is my personal favorite, and I believe it is our group’s favorite as a whole. In this story a man is in love with a woman and becomes obsessed with her. In our film he will stalk her, leave her various gifts, and will, overall, be very creepy. She does not return his affection. We have not decided on a good ending for this storyline either, but I am excited about the idea as a whole. This film would add a twist because it is not the typical love story.

For our film I hope to come up with a unexpected twist in the plot. I don’t want it to be cliché with a predictable ending. It has to have a “wow” factor. I believe our group has some creative people in it so coming up with this twist shouldn’t be difficult. I also want to make the film somewhat comic. I think, due to the time restraint, comedy would be the best way to create a captivating film. Comedy can grab a viewer instantly.

Singing in the Rain

This is the first time I’ve seen Singing in the Rain. I knew it was numerous people’s favorite, but I just assumed it wasn’t my type of movie. I was totally wrong…I love this film!  I expected it to bore me a little like most older films do, but I found myself laughing out loud during the whole film.  I thought the story line was great. It was predictable, but that’s what I enjoyed about it. It was the classic story of a main character that is about to lose everything but ends up having a big comeback and, of course, winning the heart of the woman he loves.

 This film depicted Hollywood’s transformation from silent to talking films. This seems to be the plot of a lot of the older movie (Sunset Boulevard, for example).  I found it humorous that people in Hollywood assumed the talking movies were just a fad. It is also kind of sad to see the silent movie stars being pushed aside to make way for the “talkies.”

 I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised that I loved the movie considering it was a musical. I’ve always had a weakness for a good musical. I love the how anything can be turned into a song and how a song can actually move the story along. The dancing was fun to watch and was the focus of much of the film. The “Singing in the Rain” number was my favorite because I’ve seen it copied in so many other shows (especially Family Guy) that it was nice to see the original.

 I also really enjoyed how the film depicted Hollywood; they actually weren’t too far off.  The characters were intriguing and each had a very distinct, strong personality.  My favorite, by far, was the main characters “sidekick.” He was the comic relief in the film. He always had a witty one liner or quick joke to throw into any conversation.  My favorite song was actually done by him in the film. It was “Make ‘Em Laugh.” In this song he was over-the- top, which made it that much better.

The one negative thing I have to say about this film is how long some of the numbers were. I enjoy a good musical number but they can only keep my attention for so long. After a while I get bored with them because most of the time it’s just the same lyrics being sung over and over again with never-ending dance numbers.  But overall the film was great. It was witty, kept my attention, and made me laugh. It may have even made it to the top of my “favorite movies” list.

Plans For My Film

Since I learned at the beginning of the semester that we would have to put together a short film, I’ve been trying to pay attention to some film techniques that I felt could be done for our films. The thing that I really want to try is making sound effects. We learned about how many sound effects were made I was very interested in. The first time I realized that people on the set physically created many of the sounds on a movie was when I watched a special on Wishbone as a child. It takes much more work than I first thought. The sound effects for a film can be found anywhere if you have the knack for making them. This will require a lot of creativity, but I feel that if the people in my group put our heads together we can come up with something worthwhile.

As far as the structure of the film is concerned, I really liked the way Sunset Boulevard was set up. It started at the end and the whole movie was like a flashback. I feel like we could do the same with our short film and it would give it an interesting spin on things. It requires that we have a good transition from the beginning scene and the rest of the film; the viewer must know that the first scene was actually how the story ends and the rest of the movie is a flashback. This structure is something that I have seen in many books I have read and I have actually tried it out when I started writing a book over the summer. It leaves the viewer (or reader) wondering how the story will lead them to the end.

As far as filming is concerned, I think it would be a challenge to produce a scene that is made of one continuous take.  We talked about this in class; it seemed like something that can seldom be pulled off. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t try.  I don’t know that I’ve ever noticed in the films I’ve seen but the fact that it will be difficult makes me want to try.  I’m not sure what type of scene this would work best with so it may be a little of trial and error, but I feel like it could be pulled off with enough effort.

Overall, learning about the various techniques and structures that can be used in filmmaking has made me very excited to try them out in my own film.