Hello and welcome to my G324 media A2 blog, the blog that
will be taking you through the coursework side of my A2 course. Within this
blog, you will be able to view all progress that I have made with my
coursework, planning and evaluations, as well as short, weekly diary entries
and production Diaries. Each of the above will have their own specific tab,
meaning that they can be grouped and viewed with minimal effort and
frustration. I must inform you now, that this specific diary entry is also my
first official Production Diary post, so it will come under two different
labels. However, the two types of entry will have content that is only relevant
to them, unlike this post - which has a mix.
So, here is an insight into our coursework task. Similarly
to last year's course, we have been asked to create a piece of coursework of
our choice. This year, our options were either; A music video or A short film.
Whilst both of these are extremely tempting, I know that unfortunately, I
cannot proceed with both of them.
As soon as the task was thrown upon me, hundreds of ideas
filled my head as I tried hard to battle against getting lost in my thoughts,
whilst trying to listen to my media teacher, Mr Fisher. A music video would
have been ideal for me, because ever since I find out the task for A2, I had a
pretty clear idea of what I wanted it to be based on. I was planning to use my
band from last year's music magazine - "Roode Pelikaan", as a way of
continuing the work that I had involved them in and to give the band an even
more realistic feel. However, this idea was short lived. None of my friends who
were in my fictional band can actually play an instrument, so this meant that
filming a convincing music video would prove to be a little more difficult than
I had originally thought. If there were any lingering temptations to make a
music video, they were surely gotten rid of after I stupidly agreed to watch a
"Wannabe" death metal band's music video. Having to turn the video
off 12 seconds in was a sign.
So this has left me with my one and only other option. A
short film. Now, I don't usually tend to work outside of my comfort zone in
life. But for this work, I felt I had to. Mainly because I didn't have another
choice, but also because I felt that I should try and enhance my skill
development and probability of success, by "taking the plunge", if
you will.
This sudden change of plan has somewhat changed my normal
way of thinking (If you can call it normal). I tend to spend a while thinking
of an idea, developing it and then finishing it, rather like my idea for using
Roode Pelikaan for a music video. But this task has changed that. Once I knew
that I was going to have to produce a short film, thousands of ideas filled my
head. I would sit there, thinking in silence before frequently gasping during a
eureka moment, only to find that I didn't like it. Despite sounding like quite
a tedious and long winded process, I developed an idea for a short film that I
feel can be successful and thought provoking (This is where the production
diary element comes in).
The name of the film? No idea. I haven't really thought
about minor details such as characters, props or editing at the moment. It's
more of a pitch.
<b>My short film:</b>
My short film is based on the life of a small boy, who has
frequent nightmares of monsters and other things that make him uneasy. The
opening scene depicts the boy being attacked by a monster from under his bed,
which is in his imagination. This nightmare ends when the boy goes to his
"happy place", a tranquil forest that he sends all of the nightmares
to in his head, so that they cannot bother him.
This attack from the monster provokes other nightmares of
the child's to come true. The child constantly sees what he fear sin everyday
places, such as the reflection of a mirror. A few different clips show that the
boy is terrified at his young age. However, as the film progresses, so does the
ageing of the boy. With every new chapter (Highlighted with a fade out), the
boy has aged 4 years. Each time the chapter changes, he becomes less and less
afraid of the monsters. The film reaches a point where the boy (now in his late
teens) gets fed up with the monsters. He is no longer scared of them and is
finding them annoying. Every time he sees a monster, he ushers them away from
wherever they may be, and guides them to his happy place. The monsters are
locked away in a see through, glass prison cell that is sat in this tranquil
field.
The boy then goes on to working in an office. It has now
been another 4 years since the monsters were gotten rid of. His job is going
well, until he gets extremely stressed and goes home early one day. As a method
of escaping reality, the man tries to daydream and reminisce... but he can't
remember anything. He then sits up and realises what has happened. He then
visits his happy place, which is now dark and cold, instead of warm and sunny
as it was in his childhood. He approaches the cell to see all of his nightmares
sitting in there together, cold and alone. He places one hand on the glass. One
of his nightmares goes to do the same. A single tear runs down the man's face
as he takes away his hand before the monster can place his. He then sulks and
says "I'm so sorry" and walks off.
The scene then fades out and a quote (From myself)
appears... it reads: "Don't ever try and forget your dreams, even if they
are nightmares. Because it will be far scarier when you can't remember them,
than when you used to all the time".
So that was my brief synopsis of my short film. I am sure
that it will change and be altered a little bit, but there we are! I hope you
enjoyed this first post. Keep and eye out for more. Thank you.
