So you know how A New Hope was a really really good movie, and then Empire Strikes Back was somehow even better? Well that wasn't the case for me. Not to say to went badly. It actually went pretty much just as well. What am I even saying anymore...
So I picked up Wesley at around 3:30, then took him to my dad's office. This was for two reasons: I need my dad, and I need to film at an office. Now, I needed my dad to play the role of the boss. So here's the thing, I've never seen my dad act in anything before. When I had asked him if he was willing to act, he just said "Actually, I used to be a thespian". No clue what that means. But when I asked if he could play the role of an annoyed boss, he just went "Oh that will be very easy, I'm annoyed all the time".
He pulled off the annoyed and disappointed boss really really well.
You can tell because one of his actual employees walked by, and she thought someone was actually in trouble. When I told him he did it really well, he just said "I was imagining I was talking to you". Love you too, Dad.
After that, Wesley and I drove back to the city center outside, where we had started filming last Thursday. On Thursday, Wesley had to be back by 2, so we just filmed all the scenes that Isabel were in so she didn't need to come back for another shoot.
The last scene that we filmed on Thursday was Alex giving Brian a mysterious bag, and telling him to go drop it off in a corner. So that meant that the next scene was a bunch of walking. Yay. Nothing more fun to film than that.
I probably should have gotten more inspiration for what to do with the scene of him walking. If you have too many scenes of a character walking from one location to another, you just get something slow and boring, like the driving in Taxi Driver (ooh burn!).
In all seriousness, I just got a wide shot and a couple of close ups of Wesley walking, so it should look good. I also had some handheld reverse tracking shots, which I was worried would come out shaky, but they actually didn't turn out half bad. I guess I'm just the best (or the $3,000 camera has good stabilization, one of the two).
The scene after I'm a bit worried about. Brian drops a bunch of what my econ teacher would call "powdered sugar", and as he is picking it all up he gets knocked unconscious. The slight problem is that if he is acting, and I'm filming, we need someone else to punch him. I wasn't about to bring a third person along just for a single scene, so the plan was to have that shot be with a tripod, and I would do the punching. This didn't really work out however. I wasn't able to get the angle that I wanted with the tripod(the shot was too low down), and getting him to stay in frame and in focus without being at the camera was just too difficult.
My on-the-fly solution was to have the camera zoom onto Wesley's face, which would then cut to black right as his face covers the frame fully. I would then add a smack sound in post. Looking back at the footage, I'm not sure how well it will turn out, but if it's really bad I can always refilm it. I just really don't want to.
It would cut earlier than it does in this clip, so hopefully it turns out okay.
After that, we went to my house and did Wesley's black eye makeup, which actually came out really well. I took of picture of it with the camera to make sure it would turn out well on recording.
And yeah it did turn out pretty well. Wesley's looking pretty tuff.
After that was just the ending office scene. All this really starts to feel more real once you record you're ending scene(even if you still have more to record).
Now, all that's left is the scene with the thugs, and I'm done filming. I do have about a week left, so...
So, the second day of filming is tomorrow. Here is the plan: I'm going to pick up Wesley and take him to my dad's office. There, we can film the opening scene where the boss is talking to Brian. Then, we'll go back to my town's city center to film the rest of the outdoor scenes, the ones that Isabel aren't needed for. Next, I need to give Wesley a black eye.
If you remember, my film ends with Brian having a black eye from his encounters in the film. Unfortunately, I don't have much experience with using makeup, especially doing something like making a black eye. So, I will punch Wesley in the face really hard, and if I time it right, by the time I get back to my dad's office, the bruising will appear.
And so that's the plan for tomorrow, I'll upda-
oh. what's that?
Okay so apparently it's unethical to sucker punch my actors (who aren't getting paid) in the face. I guess I'll need to find someone who A. knows how to do makeup, and B. is willing to use their makeup on this random dude I've recruited to act for me. My mom said she could probably do the eye, but doesn't want to use her makeup on some random kid. But then she tested it out...
That, actually looks pretty good.
After my mom tested it out on me, she said "Actually, bring your friend over. I am amazing". Which I agree. You're the best, Mom.
I told my mom I should show up to school with that makeup. When people ask what happened, I could say "My mom did this to me". I wouldn't be lying. Anyway,
So after we film in the city center, we will stop by my house, beat up Wesley(give him makeup), then go back to the office and film the ending scene. That should mean that after tomorrow, the only scene I have left to film is the kidnapped/dark room scene. Wish me luck again :D
I filmed today. And nothing caught on fire. Hell yeah.
I had to pick up Wesley, who doesn't live in my town so it was a twenty minute drive to his house and another twenty minutes back. We met with Isabel in front of the restaurant at around 10:30 (they said come at 10:45), and went inside. So Lucille's opens at 11am, so we were pretty surprised to see customers waiting to be seated. Apparently, so where the employees, because they were like "why are you here this early". Then the manager saw us and said we could film anywhere. We sat down at a booth and set up.
The restaurant was a little dark, but I wasn't about to bring a three point light kit in there, so it will have to do. I think the aesthetic matches so perfectly, and I'm so happy we were able to film there.
I want to mention I came PREPARED. I wasn't sure if the restaurant would let us use theirs, so I brought three coffee mugs and a thermos full of coffee. Filming all the diner scenes took about an hour, which overlapped with the opening, which gave us a lot of really weird looks from customers. Normally, I get kind of stressed out in these situations, and rush myself. I had to focus on just taking my time, wearing headphones, and just making sure everything was done right. Luckily, looking back at the footage it seemed like that paid off.
After the diner scene, we went to my city's town center to film the outside scenes. However, Wesley had to be back by 2, so we decided to just film the scenes that Isabel was needed in, since she can't do any other day this week, and Wesley and I could meet up to finish the rest a different day.
There is a really big difference in lighting from the dark atmosphere of the diner to the blinding Florida sun, so I'm hoping the transition isn't too harsh. The lighting kept changing with the cloud cover as well, but I think I managed to make everything look decent.
It's going to need some color grading, but nothing that the lumentri color wheel can't fix.
Wesley and Isabel have never spoken until this day, but they both managed to act their parts really really well. I'm really happy with what I have filmed so far, and for the first time, I'm feeling kind of good about this project. So, that should be one day of filming down, two to go.
So, tomorrow's the day. I had spent pretty much all day preparing, and somehow it's been so insanely productive.
For equipment to film, I checked out from my school's tv club's equipment closet. My camera is a Canon Mark IV 5D. It's a DSLR that is mostly made for photography and not cinematography, but it's pretty much the best thing I could get my hands on. My audio is a wireless Hollyland lav system I got for free on a recent school trip.
Next, I wanted to secure a location to film at. I had originally written the second scene to be at a cafe/diner, but I could easily film at a park if I couldn't get permission. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to confirm I was filming tomorrow until late last night, so I hadn't been able to ask anywhere for permission to film. So, on a whim, I went out to lunch with my friend at a local resturant called Lucille's American Cafe. I had mentioned it in my locations post a little bit ago.
After eating a delicious meal(the pulled pork sandwich is really good there I recommend), I channeled my inner white woman and went "Can I speak to the manager?". I'm kidding. I said "Is there a manager I can speak to? It's nothing bad I just have a question". The manager thought I was about to ask for a job, but once I explained that I wanted to film there, he was really happy to help. He gave me the email for the owner, and said that they love it when they could help with projects.
So now I had to email the owner, and hope she responded... tonight. Yay.
I sent this off at 4:38pm, before I even left the restaurant(yes it was a late lunch). Anyway, now it was time to go buy some items to make props. Well, there's only one real prop I needed. I needed to make what looks like a bunch of cocaine. I went to Publix, and bought two big bags of flour, then some Ziploc bags and saran wrap. I then started filling up the bags with flour and wrapping them in plastic. It's probably not a good idea to post my reference image for a few reasons, but I'm pretty happy with the result.
Do you know what the worst thing for your mom to walk in on you doing is? Well the second worst thing is walking in and seeing this:
I know I did at least a half decent job, because my mom has no idea what my film is about, and the first thing she said was "is that cocaine?".
After a few hours, I wasn't feeling very hopeful about getting an email from the restaurant, when suddently...
SHE RESPONDED!!!! AND SAID YES!!! FOR TOMORROW!!!!
She is literally the nicest person in the world oh my god I am so happy. I started freaking out in the gym and the guy at the machine next to me looked at me weirdly. And I don't even care.
So I kind of got myself into a teeny little situation. My plan was to film during my spring break, which is next week. However, because I took so long to write the script, I never solidified any actors for the film. I didn't want to ask anyone to act without having a full storyline to give to them, so I probably should have just finished the script earlier... oh well.
I never really realized how many people travel for spring break until I started looking for actors.
This is how it went most of the time.
I had asked my friend Mateo, who is in my media class, if he would be willing to act in my film, and at first he was pretty iffy. But then I showed him my script, and he seemed much more up to it. I asked him to recite one line from it, and right after he was like "Yeah I would do the role pretty well". He gave me the days he could possibly film, which was all but like three days over break, so that meant I just needed to find an actress for the other lead.
I have a lot of friends who are in drama. Some think I'm friends with them because they're nice people, but this is completely incorrect. I actually have been slowly becoming friends with the drama kids in hopes that they would act in my short films. (I'm kidding I love all my friends in drama)
Turns out most of them are traveling over break! Yay! Luckily, my friend Isabel, who sits next to me in media, isn't traveling.
As you can see I was very prepared, sending the script and everything. And she said yes!!! I'm really happy she did, because I know she's a really talented actress, she played a lead of one of the school's shows recently.
Now I just had to find a day they could both do it...
So I guess Mateo can't do it.
After some scrambling, I was able to find someone else. My friend Wesley said he'd be able to do it, and I think he's going to do the role really well. He is a lead actor on my school's short film team, and I think he's a really good fit. So, if all is well and good, we shall film Thursday.
Okay, I worked on that one bit of my script that was terrible. Let's compare the before and after.
So to fix this, I employed this hyper effective super cool strategy.
Step 1: highlight
Step 2: delete
So then I spent a bit rewriting and came up with this.
I just think that this conversation flows a lot better between the two. It was kind of hard to write, since this is such a strange exchange, but I think this feels about as natural as it can.
I have my second group meeting today, and I finally have a finished script!!! It needs some work, but I'm posting it here for my group to view. NOTQUITEWRITE.
Okay it's about an hour later, and the group has reviewed my script. It was a lot of fun watching everyone's face and trying to guess what absurd part they were at. And the general consensus was... they didn't hate it!!! They really liked the ending and now it kind of tied things together, which was the goal so I'm happy with that.
The only real issue that people pointed out was the first conversation between the two main characters. It was a really awkward conversation that didn't really flow well, and it felt completely unnatural. Which I personally fully agreed with. When I had written it originally, I sort of rushed it because I was struggling to figure out what to say. Now, I know that I should go back and both shorten it, and make it seem more natural. Mateo gave me some good advice, which is to have people read out loud the dialogue while writing it.
My teacher also read the script. She didn't love the second half, and said it had some pacing issues. Which I get, because it kind of does. Her solution was just cutting most of the second half, and leaving the audience to wonder how the two main characters escape. I do not love this route, but I can very easily film for both and decide which is better in editing, so that's what I shall do.
I was walking my dog, deep in my own thoughts. I don't know about you, but in the shower and walking my dog are when I have the most random and creative thoughts. Anyway, I was walking my dog, when suddenly the title came to me. "The Write Stuff". Wait no, that sounds just like The Right Stuff. But I kept thinking for a bit and came up with the title "Something's Not Quite Write". Because it's about a writer, get it. I'm so funny. I decided to shorten it down to just "Not Quite Write", because I think the more concise the title the better.
I'm actually really happy with this title. I think so many short film titles are really really boring. If I go search up "short films" into Youtube, some of the responses that pop up are: "The Barbershop", "The Cook", "Tunnel", "The Elevator", "The Loop". Now I've watched most of these, and they're all pretty good, but I just feel that it gets old when almost every title is just "The" + a noun. "The Crush", "The Neighbors Window", "The Wait". It's really pet peevie, because let's be fair, a quick and concise title is a good idea, especially when the point of short films is to be quick and concise. However, I really love it when titles and just a bit more unique than that. One of my favorites has the title "To The DEATH". You have no clue what it's about, but come on that's such a cool title, and it has mystery. Like the title "Alternative Math", you really have no clue what happens until you watch it. When you start watching "The Neighbors Window", you can guess it's going to be about a neighbors window. Okay sorry I'll stop, this is really not that important.
Now that I actually know what the hell I'm calling the film, I can finally make a social media page advertising it. I'm literally writing this blog in real time, so I'm going to go create the account now...
Dammit.
Ayyyy it's not taken.
I actually kind of like the name for the account. It has an extra word on the title, being called "somethingsnotquitewrite" when the title is just "Not Quite Write", but I think that's actually kind of fun.
Bwahahaha, it has been created.
Now I want to post something as a little teaser for what is it come... wait I should probably create a description first.
Okay, this is what it looks like for other people viewing the account. Also now I have six Instagram accounts, that's probably too many. They all exist for a reason I promise.
Anyway, back to figuring out what my first post on the account should be. I'm thinking it should be a little tease, something that gives absolutely no information about what the plot is, but can start to build hype. Also, I should try introducing mise-en-scene and, oh what's the word... ICONOGRAPHY (didn't even have to search that one up), to start building an image.
Obviously it's still very early relatively for the creation of this film, so there's not much to share of the production process, but I have an idea that I think could be cool. There is a scene where the main character is in a cafe trying to write something in a notebook. So, what if I draw the words "Not Quite Write" onto a sheet of paper? I'm terrible at drawing, but I'll give it a shot.
I hate both of these. They are terrible. This is the very first post for my account, and I don't want this to be it. I don't think this really matches the mood of the film that I'm going for either. I'm going to work on something that looks a little better, I'll probably make something using photoshop instead.
Anyway, now that I finally have a social media account, I will start posting there regularly. I have some advertisement ideas I'm really excited for, so I think this account will be a lot of fun.
There is something that is so essential to a short film, and although I may not have the entirety of my plot figured out at the moment, I need to get started on it as soon as possible. There are three L's when it comes to real estate, and they apply just as much to film making. Those three L's are:
L: location
L: Location
L: LOCATION
Phil Dunphy would be so proud of me...
A good filming location can make or break a short film. Having something that is visually pleasing, yet also convincing can submerge the viewer into your story, and a weak location and pull them right out of it.
So, I know I want to try to film in a coffee shop/cafe. Great. Now how many of those exist near me, and how many of those would let me film there? I'm going to try to see if any of these places are closed on a certain day, that would probably be the best time to ask to film.
There's this really cool coffee shop in my town called Watts & Coffee. It was a originally a bike shop, but they expanded it into also selling coffee, as sort of a meeting place for bikers. It's not exactly the idea aesthetic that I'm going for, however, their hours are really appealing. The bike shop it is attached to is open on Monday's, while the coffee shop isn't, meang if I asked to film there, I could hopefully do it on a Monday, which would prevent me from getting in the way of business. \
Another potential location is a local American diner called Lucille's. I really love this place, because they have kept the 50s aesthetic, making it a really visually appealing place to possibly film. I know that they hire a number of people from my school, which would hopefully make the owners more open to letting us possibly film there. The place also doesn't open until 11am on weekdays, so I could probably ask to film before then to avoid disturbing customers. Also, quick shoutout to this restaurant because the food there is really good.
Next, I know there are a few scenes that take place outside in a cityish sort of place. Last year I filmed in my town's local town center, although I really don't want to film there again. Mainly because I've already filmed so many things there, like last year when I recorded my film opening there, and people kept walking up to my friends on the ground pretending to be unconscious. Also this year, I walked around with my friends asking people about feet. The second reason I don't want to film there is because there's quite a lot of people there, and although I haven't revealed a particular event in the plot that occurs, I would prefer if I didn't have numerous people seeing it.
Holy crap. I took a break from blogging and went to go walk my dog, and suddenly it happened. I FINALLY CAME UP WITH A TITLE. Anyway, back to the location blog.
Yeah so outside, where could I do this?
The location that I was picturing in my head looks something like this. The problem with actually doing it at that location is that it's Las Olas Boulevard. So hopefully there's a less busy place that actually is kind of close by. I really want to find a place that has an alleyway, but I genuinely think that there isn't an alleyway within a 20 mile radius of where I live. Oh the struggles of living in a generally wealthy part of Florida.
I found this place, which could work aesthetically, although it seems like it would be difficult to film there without permission, and I highly doubt I could get permission.
I have some time, so I'll focus on the other parts of production for now and keep looking for alleyways in the meantime.
Over the past week, I've been writing the script for the film. Well, I've been trying. It's funny how the script isn't even that long, yet it can take so long to write. I have been employing a technique that a producer who came into our school told me about. It's called "Sit down for ten minutes a day and write". This technique consists of, well, sitting your butt down in a chair with the script open for ten minutes each day until you have something good. Hence the name. Sometimes I'd be able to write three pages in like fifteen minutes, and other times I'd sit down and not be able to write a single word.
This part of the script literally took me like five minutes. It was probably the easiest part, since it was the opening scene and I've been visualizing it for a while.
This part of the script took over like an hour. And the worst part? IT'S TERRIBLE. I really need to go back and rework the dialogue, but I decided to move on, because I knew how the next section was going to go, and I wanted to work on that before I lost the motivation.
The next two pages were fairly easy and really fun to write. It's when the absurdity really starts to kick in, and I really enjoyed writing the main character's reaction to the insane thing that is happening, as well as the ridiculous banter between the two characters.
The hardest dialogue to write besides the conversation in the diner was the dialogue for the thugs, mostly because it's really hard to not make them sound cringy. "Oh we're so stuff we're gonna beat you up bwahahaaha". Yeah we want to avoid that. So basically, I employed this genius tactic called not having them say very much.
I'm almost done with the full script, so once I finish writing that I'll talk about any edits I need to make.
I want you to picture yourself in my situation. You have just spent the last week away on a trip for a competition you have spent months preparing for. You have never been so mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. Of course, you have become sick after all of this chaos, but you've already missed so much school, so you drag your ass into class the next day.
Yeah so that was me on Friday. I will have to say that I was definitely not in the happiest mood, nor was I especially ready to use my brain a bunch. I hadn't really worked on my project in a week. So just imagine how I felt when the first thing I hear from my media teacher is "Time for group meetings!". :D
Yay! I was hoping I would at least have the entire plot figured out before this point, but I was a teeny bit behind schedule. Luckily, I at least had the basic outline to present to my groupmates, and it ended up being really helpful.
As you can tell I was so ready to be there!!!
Martina started off explaining what she had planned for her short film, and I tried my best to be helpful but I'm going to be honest (and I'm so sorry Martina), I only heard about the last 30% of her plot. However, we all gave her some advice, and then it was my turn.
The first thing Martina asked me after I described my whole plot was what the deeper meaning behind my story was. Sure, a bunch of things happened, but what is the whole reason for all of that to happen? Well damn, that's a really good question. I think it my hatred for short films that got too philosophical, I forget to put a theme into my story. WHICH IS KIND OF IMPORTANT. I'm really glad she asked this however because the group discussed some ways I could maybe improve the story. What was suggested, and I'm really heavily considering putting into my story, is having the boss not like the final story at the end of the film, but the main character goes ahead and publishes it on his own. It would show that the character realizes he doesn't need that company to express his creative talents, and I honestly really like that.
I spent a lot of time trying to describe the mood and tone of my film, and the members of my group gave me some recommendations that they thought would really help me, based on what I told them. Sofia recommended the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Megan suggested How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. They both seemed to really feel that I'll take a lot from those films, so I'm definitely going to give them a shot.
The biggest thing I got out of this meeting was adding a little extra motivation to the character in the plot, or just some way for him to develop himself over the film. I wrote the ideas down to implement them, and will definitely include them while I write my script.
I really wish I could individually credit every group member for their ideas, but I was like half conscious for most of that meeting. Our teacher kept looking at me and just looked so sad seeing me, which meant I must have really looked ill because she's never given me that look before. So anyway, if any of my group members read this, thank you so much for all the help, I think the end result is going to be improved a lot by what you guys suggested.
Anyway, now that I have the outline mostly figured out, I should prooooobably write the script next. yay
Okay so I'm going to lay out the basic idea I have for my short film. If you are in my media class, I would prefer if you don't read this to avoid spoilers. I mentioned before that I want just a teeny little "ah ha" moment in this film, and that's difficult when people start watching already knowing what it is.
Okay, without further ado, lets go look at what my brain somehow conjured up.
Okay, so I need you to understand that when my mind somehow connects together its single digit number of brain cells, I have fleeting moments before that idea is gone forever. So, I had to write this very quickly into my notes app, just in a way that would remind me of what I thought of.
Translating this from incomprehensible jargon to actual words, it starts with a writer who, as the holy notes app note suggests, has extreme writers block. For some reason however, I'm picturing this guy to be a writer for some big company, where he works in an office for a bunch of people. I think I can give the character more motivation if he's writing because his boss gave him a deadline. I'm kind of picturing an environment kind of like the office in 500 Days of Summer? If you remember, Tom works for a greeting card company, so while his work is creativity based, he still works in a more average office environment.
His boss then talks to him, saying that he's come up with no new stories in the past 5 weeks, and he have to be let go if he can't come up with something asap. Our main character, who can't come up with something good for the life of him, stays up all night at his house trying to write something to no avail. Waking up at his home desk at 4am, he decides to go to a coffee shop and trying to work there.
As he's sitting at his table, still very early, a woman around his age (they're both in their younger 20s), starts asking him about what he's doing. She's clearly a lot more lively than him at his hour. They have a little chat, but it's unclear why the woman came up to him.
I mostly came up with this part of the idea because I LOVE the aesthetic of a coffee shop or cafe right at the crack of dawn. It just feels so special, and a tad bit mysterious, and I would love to capture that vibe on film.
This turns to the middle part of the story... that I do not know yet. I know, I'm supposed to have this figured out, BUT THIS IS HARD OKAY. Basically, I want there to be a turn of events that sparks what I can only describe as some "crazy adventure". I'm not sure of what it would entail, I have a few ideas but I need to check with my teacher for what she would consider "appropriate" (nothing that bad I promise, I just need something ridiculous).
At the end, after something has happened to cause some physical harm to the writer, like a big scratch or something, the adventure has mostly climaxed. Suddenly, what is happening on screen cuts suddenly to a script, showing what was just happening a second before. It is the boss reading a script that the writer turned in. The boss asks how he came up with this, and the writer just shrugs, trying to hide the scratch he got from his "adventure".
So yeah, it's very incomplete, but I have a solid beginning and end. I just need a fun and creative way to connect those two pieces, meaning I just need to sit my butt down and write for a bit.
A major part of this project is that we need to advertise it. On the media that is social. As per project directions (raise imaginary glasses), an official social media page and postcard advertisement for a film fest is required. (lower glasses) So it's probably a good idea to look at the social media pages for films to get some inspiration.
It's a good idea to look at socials for films in the same genre that I'm creating. Problem! I don't know what I'm doing yet! I do have a general idea of the genre I want however, so let's look at some films that have a similar mood and genre.
Baby Driver
It's actually a bit hard, because so many of my favorite films in the genre I'm going for are fairly old, and came out before social media was really around, so I had to dig a little deeper to find some good options. Baby Driver was a pretty good choice however, because it's a fun drama that doesn't take itself too seriously, which is a kind of film that I love.
My first thought was wow, because the account, titled babydrivermovie, posted 212 times advertising for the movie. That's a lot, but thankfully I did the math and the account was posting for over 450 days, so an average of a post every two to three days is very manageable. It appears that they started with a date for the teaser for the release of the teaser, followed by a countdown for the trailer.
They then advertised the release of the trailer on Youtube.
The account then started to advertise it's unique use of music in the movie, as it's such a big part of what makes Baby Driver special.
Then the account starts to show off the top tier actors in the movie, such as Kevin Spacey.
There's then a countdown for the release of the actual movie itself.
And the release announcement.
After the movie was released, they then advertised interviews and talk shows with the actors and director.
As soon as I have an full understanding of the plot, genre, and most importantly, title, I can begin the social media page for my film. It will start with just showcasing production, but very soon, once I have a grasp of my films mise-en-scene elements, I will begin to incorporate that into the account as well.
I really don't know what I want to make a film about. That's a problem. I talked to my teacher today about coming up with ideas, and she told me I'm a very indecisive person. I have no clue what she's talking about.
Here is a list from the notes app of potential ideas that I've come up with. At least that's what it was supposed to be, it eventually became mostly cool sounding titles.
Keep in mind that I only wrote down little notes that I would understand, so most of this list is incomprehensible nonsense. Many people would say that's what the inside of my brain is like. I would have to agree.
Anyway, I did in fact have a meeting with my teacher about what I'm planning on doing. It was fun hearing people explain their entire plot to her, while I wander over and just went "I have no clue what to do yet".
I then attempted to read to her my best ideas, and have her choose which one she felt was the strongest, to which she said that it's my project and I have to make that choice for myself. Dammit, I knew she was gonna do that.
Eventually, my teacher had me read some of the ideas out to her. Her favorite idea was the first one I wrote, which was lovingly named "Film 101". It would be about this guy in a film class who tries to make the best short film ever to impress a girl in his class. It would eventually go wrong however because he overcomplicates it way too much. (This is absolutely not inspired by true events in the slightest, I have no clue what you're talking about, shut up nicole). She said it had the opportunity to become a really cute wholesome story, kind of like Almost Famous. This didn't really excite me too much though. Although Almost Famous will always be a personal favorite, and that was one of the ideas I had thought out the most, the kind of film it would end up being just isn't something I'm very interested in, at least not in the moment.
My teacher saw that I didn't seem very convinced with the idea, and she told me I need to come up with an idea I'm confident with. She then said that will probably be hard because I lack confidence and I'm indecisive. Ouch okay. But she is right, I won't be able to successfully execute an idea if I don't feel confident about the story itself. So I sat back down at my desk and stared at my computer screen waiting for a random idea to come. Then, right before the bell rang, an idea came to me. I quickly jotted it down:
I won't yet reveal it yet, mostly because it still needs a LOT of ironing out, but hopefully over the next week I'm able to iron it out and have something I'm happy with.
I think a good idea at analyzing short films is to look at which ones are the most popular. So let's take a look at "nothing, except everything", by Wesley Wang. I have some opinions...
I first came across this short film last year. My friend had just watched it, and was begging me to go take a look. And honestly, I just didn't think it was that good. To the point where he had to force me to finish it. I was surprised at how so many the comments were touting it as one of the best short films they have ever watched.
A little while later, I saw that the creator of this film was given a directing role partnering with Darren Aronofsky. It's kind of a big a big deal when the director of Requiem for a Dream and The Whale hires you. I decided that I should probably give this film another chance, so I rewatched it from a fresh perspective... and still didn't like it.
This actually kind of hurt a little, because I felt that I just couldn't understand what made some films good. Why couldn't I understand this masterpiece that is so highly praised? Okay a little dramatic sorry.
After a while, and a lot of analysis, I feel a lot more confident in my opinions about this film. After talking to a lot of friends, and seeing literal half-hour video essays now talking about this film, I think it's time to take a deep-dive into the biggest short film hit on Youtube.
I really like how the film starts. After flashing a chapter I title, we see the main character look directly at the camera, and ask us to think of a number between 1 and 10. Go think of a number. Go do it. Was it seven? For one in three people, that's the correct answer. But then the character asks, why one in three? Not one in ten? The character then goes around asking his schoolmates why they think that seven is by far the most common number to be chosen.
I think this is a really cool way to open the film. The forth wall break is unexpected and it immediately draws the viewer in, which is really important in short films. The concept itself also feels very original, which I really appreciate.
The next scene is the main character explaining his findings to his family, who are very unamused. The main character explains how humans picking the number seven relates to the beginning of the universe and the meaning of life? I'm not kidding, he literally says "EVERYTHING. I mean think about it: we live in a world with so much uncertainty, with like climate change, civil unrest and-".
...
What? Literally where is this coming from? His dad then responds that the only thing uncertain is what college he is going to, and his mom literally says "Miles, it's really not that complicated. Get into a good college, get a job, and die".
I'm sorry, but this is just not good dialogue. It's a conversation that really seems to come out of nowhere, and his parents response is just so strange. Now, it would be okay if a reasoning for this conversation was given later in the piece, but hint hint, it isn't.
The next scene is the start of Chapter II and it features Miles on a date with this girl. They flirt for a bit, very cute. They then have a little awkward scene where neither know what to do next, so eventually they just decide to keep driving around and enjoying their date. Fun. This will prove to be an integral part of the story later on. I hope.
Now is Chapter III. All chapters so far have been quotes from famous figures, which is cool. The quote in this chapter is
"But if we all eventually die, what's the fucking point?"
-someone, probably
Hey, cool title. Reflects what the main character is thinking. Miles is making a graduation speech, talking about the number 7, which does actually make sense that the who school knows what he's talking about, because I would imagine that everyone in the school knows Miles as the number seven guy. Miles then reveals that the age of seven is when he first encountered "The pinnacle of existence. Death."
We then see a flashback to Miles walking with his mom down the street, her holding a seventh birthday cake. They then see a racoon get run over. Miles asks his mom why the racoon killed himself, and his mom says animals don't do that. And you want to know what this seven year old's response is?
"But what if they have feelings? Just like us? Maybe his wife died and he went through months of existential grief and rehab."
Yes. I'm not excluding any details from the scene here, that's exactly what he says. So his mom understandably asks where this is coming from, and Miles asks if his Uncle Frank killed himself.
We then see a flashback to young Miles playing chess with who we presume to be Uncle Frank. Uncle Frank then asks him to think of a number between 1 and 10, which then let's you presume that Frank picked the good ole "Was it seven?" trick. So this actually makes sense and is kind of cool. And maybe Frank's wife got into an accident and Uncle Frank went through months of sadness before killing himself? That's the only way I can call the dialogue anything besides utterly terrible, so let's just hope it is.
Miles then continues his graduation speech, and starts shouting that all their grades and effort where meaningless and there is no reason to anything that they do. And I'm not going to type out what he says, but it is also just terribly written and sounds so unnatural.
Now we reach Chapter IV, where Miles and his girlfriend lay in bed wondering if they will remember each other, or give a crap about each other. Then they talk some more and ask the question, "Would it be better to remember, or forget?"
Now a montage of current events in the news starts, with Miles talking about how life is so random. Then we see a bunch of clips of teenagers talking about enjoying life? I think they're interviews of Miles asking his classmates what they think about the future. Over the voiceovers, we see Miles finally move into his college dorm room. Then with a sudden cut, it switches to a shot of his girlfriend, and we hear Miles say "All of sudden, there's clarity".
And that's it! That's the most popular short film on Youtube.
So, why didn't I enjoy this short film? Well the thing that stands out the most to me is the dialogue. It just feels so unnatural that it completely brought me out of the story. These are words that no seven year old would say, most parents wouldn't say, and I doubt a teenager would say in an actual conversation. I think some people would argue that the dialogue is meant to be this way. The words being so extreme aren't meant to be realistic, but instead get a point across. In my opinion, that is a terrible excuse for dialogue like this. You can get the exact same point across with much more subtle dialogue. If it's to the point where it brings you out of the story, I'm sorry, but it's not doing a good job.
Next, I just don't think the story is great. I understand it, and it's cute. Miles experienced a death at a young age, and it causes him to believe that life has no meaning if we are all going to die anyway. Eventually, he accepts that life is just worth living because you should enjoy it. This is a fine plot to have, it's just that it tries to fit THE MEANING OF LIFE into an 11 minute short. It both feels like way too much is happening, yet also doesn't feel like much happens in the film, and it ends up kind of feeling like a bunch of inspirational quotes being thrown at you.
But I'm going to be completely honest, I am not hating on this film. I mean, the creator did the whole meaning of life thing way better than I ever could. The only thing is that I don't think that this deserves all of the attention that it has. There are some videos mentioning how Tiktok apparently helped make it popular, but I haven't watched them because I want all my ideas in this post to be my own. I just feel that there is no reason the creator of this film gets an instant directing job, meanwhile there are so many other creators that don't get the same recognition, who absolutely deserve it. So many aspects of this film feel so basic and cliche, that it doesn't feel like so much thought was put into it. Like that montage at the end feels like it was made with the intention of "people will eat this shit up", rather than "this has such a great meaning behind it".
I will give a few compliments to this film and the creator however, because I do not want to give the impression I have anything against him. I mean, the technicals are INCREDIBLE. Now, is this because the creator is actually rich? Yes. But that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve credit. The description "filmed throughout my last year of high school" really gives off the impression this was like a side passion project he and a few friends did during the year, and I think a lot of people think that. However, a quick scroll down shows that he hired dozens of professionals to work on this project. The special effects and camera work and editing is so good because he hired real life professionals for the job. I think people are a little misled, thinking this is a student film. Because let me tell you, although this was made by a student, this is NOT a student film. What I will say, and why I think the creator got a job, is that he is an incredible producer. This is what producers for films do: they hired the best people they can to execute their vision. If he, a high school student, managed as much of this as it appears he did, then he truly is an incredible producer and deserves so much respect for what he made.
So yes, that is my overly yappy and unnecessarily long analysis of this one random short film that I don't really like.
Now, I would NEVER do such a thing as become a Tarantino wannabe. Wait...
So a quick look at my blog shows that I may in fact be a chronic sufferer of this illness.
Anyway, the last research post I did was dedicated towards comedies that I really enjoyed watching. If you can recall, comedy is the genre that I could probably do the best job with. However, it's not the genre I am most interested by. I'm not really sure how to describe the genre, maybe a drama/dark comedy. Trust me, that's very different from comedy, I promise. Look at films like Baby Driver, or maybe Pulp Fiction ironically. They kind of border on the lines of drama, thriller, and comedy. These can be pretty hard to make, but I found a few short films that kind of fit into it.
Room 101
This definitely isn't the perfect short film, but I really like the vibe that is gives. It shows this girl check into a hotel, and just start really enjoying life. She's kicking back and relaxing, enjoying her magazines, jamming to music, and doesn't seem to have a care in the world. Which seems very concerning when the radio reveals there is a serial killer in the neighborhood.
She walks out of the shower, seemingly oblivious to the man who has creeped into her hotel room. Until the man is right behind her. Then she smiles.
Bang.
As the woman walks away covered in blood, you begin to realize that she was the killer all along. She goes back into enjoying her life, music blasting, merrily cleaning off the blood and hiding the body. And at the very end, she checks in to another hotel, asking for another hotel room for one.
What I love about this film is the twist. It perfectly sets up the expectation that she will fall victim to the a killer in her hotel room, just like the classic psycho scene, and then it completely subverts it. I do think that the film drags on afterwards a little bit longer than it should. Personally, I believe that the twist in a short film should happen more towards the end, but here it happens practically right in the middle.
I once read somewhere that a good short film should be written like a joke. You spend most of the time building up to something, then the twist is the punchline. I think that is something that films in this weird genre I'm looking at are great for, and if I pursue this genre(which I really want to I just don't have an idea yet), then that is the main thing I am looking to achieve.
Finishing up on Room 101, I really loved how stylistic this film was. I believe the creator definitely has at least a mild case of Tarantino Wannabe Syndrome(TWS), with the old music and aesthetic being very much from the 50s, much like Pulp Fiction, but they clearly were able to divert from that a decent amount, adding their own visual flare. The editing is very fast and well paced, and I really enjoyed all the visual aspects of the film.
Schism
I FRICKING LOVE THIS FILM OH MY GOD
I think this creator may also suffer from TWS, however he's able to almost eliminate the W part from his condition. I think people try a lot to imitate his style of dialogue, which tends to include characters in the middle of what can pass for a normal conversation between friends. It's so satisfying to listen to because it feels like you're just hearing a these characters on a normal day. However, this kind of dialogue just doesn't work in short films. Look at the Pulp Fiction royale with cheese conversation.
Yeah this is really funny to listen to, and it establishes the relationship between the characters, but this has almost nothing to do with the plot of the actual movie. It works in Pulp Fiction, because it has time for this, but in a short film with under ten minutes of run time, you're just taking up space.
Now lets take a look at the dialogue in Schism. It still feels like a very normal conversation, and it's definitely something you could picture these two characters having. However, their conversation is about the event that we just witnessed.
After the main character (Tripp) smiles so much for the waiter taking their order, his partner (Jay) asks him why he pretends to be all nice and jolly when he really isn't. Tripp argues that it doesn't hurt to act nice for people, but Jay thinks that putting on a fake face for people isn't good.
Their conversation then mentions the job they are doing, which we don't know what it is, and how you have to accept what the job is and kill the part of yourself that denies it. This dialogue works so well, because it does a great job at being natural, while also not having a single word wasted.
As the waitress returns with their milkshakes, a knocking sound starts coming from the trunk, causing them to speed off, while also hinting at the grotesque nature of what they are doing. As we see Tripp getting ready to finish the job, we see him look at the trunk in shock. He tells his partner to come check something out, but all he responds with is "just kill him already". Finally, we see that inside the trunk...
is himself. His partner was right, for this job, he really does have to kill that part of himself, so he does.
As the film ends, we get to see that empathetic version of him is now gone.
I think what I love about this film so much is that it's just such a well built story. It manages to build up to that ending perfectly without you even realizing everything was leading up to that point. The plot twist was really cool, and it becomes kind of philosophical without taking it too far. Amazing.
These are the kinds of films I really really love, and it's what I really want to try to create. I think the real obstacle in doing that is that I just don't have an idea that could work with that yet... but if I manage to come up with something good then I absolutely will go for it.
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