Production design artistically expresses the film. Color palettes are chosen with extreme care, and all props must have a purpose. The job of a production designer isn't to simply please the audience aesthetically. If you look closely, you'll catch on to the subtle hints that are placed in the background. There are many instances where production designers give away the entire personality of a character in a single shot, just by decorating the background effectively and carefully.
Showing posts with label Short of the Week. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short of the Week. Show all posts
Friday, April 4, 2014
The Importance of Production Design
Everyone knows that one of the most important concepts of film-making is visual presentation. I mean -- what's a movie without anything on the screen? The production designer is the person in charge of all of this. This is an enormous task, and the production designer must oversee every single visual aspect of the film: this includes costumes, set design, lighting, makeup, props, hairstyles, etc. Without a production designer, a film cannot exist.
Production design artistically expresses the film. Color palettes are chosen with extreme care, and all props must have a purpose. The job of a production designer isn't to simply please the audience aesthetically. If you look closely, you'll catch on to the subtle hints that are placed in the background. There are many instances where production designers give away the entire personality of a character in a single shot, just by decorating the background effectively and carefully.
The short above perfectly encapsulates the importance and duties of a production designer. The task is certainly not easy, as I am discovering first-hand. It requires many hours of hard work, research, and excellent communication between everyone involved in various aspects of the film.
Production design artistically expresses the film. Color palettes are chosen with extreme care, and all props must have a purpose. The job of a production designer isn't to simply please the audience aesthetically. If you look closely, you'll catch on to the subtle hints that are placed in the background. There are many instances where production designers give away the entire personality of a character in a single shot, just by decorating the background effectively and carefully.
Friday, February 28, 2014
East of Kensington: The Process of Filmmaking
Recently, I've been surfing the internet for short films to help with our process of filmmaking for this class. I came across an awesome website called Short of the Week, that displays innovative and worthwhile short films regularly. In addition, they publish articles regarding the short film world and post news about awards and film festivals.
Anyway, while browsing the site I found an interesting short thesis film created by students of Chapman University, (the same university that the student thesis film "Into the Silent Sea" came from, directed by Andrej Landin) and decided to check it out. It's called "East of Kensington", a thriller written and directed by Kellen Moore during his time at Chapman. It tells the tale of Peter Pan after he drops off Wendy, Michael and John back home to London after their adventures in Neverland. The film takes a disturbing turn, which captivates you till the very end. It's twenty minutes long, which is the same length as the films we're making, so I made sure to pay attention to the structure of a film that's already proven to be successful.
I thought the short was visually impressive. The dark color theme was cohesive during the entire film and gave it a certain tone and mood that was very effective. Also, the dreamlike scenes with Wendy were haunting and beautiful. Overall the shots were truly appealing to the eye and very well executed. Furthermore the attention to detail was spectacular. Everything from the scenery to costumes to the pictures on the walls and in the newspaper were accounted for. This is something to keep in mind when designing our sets and collecting props and costumes for our own films.
Now that we're in the writing and story creating phase of our process, there is a lot to consider about structure and story. A short film only has a certain amount of time to leave an impression, so every part of it must be well thought out and purposeful. Specifically this film, I learned a lot about ways to include back story without taking up too much time or hitting the audience over the head with exposition. Granted, the characters and plot for this film are well known to the audience, so a lot was dependent on that, but there was still an entire implicit history of the characters lives fit into a twenty minute time frame. The use of the dream sequences and careful dialogue to explain what happened to the children while Peter was away was well done.
Another important characteristic of a short is feeling like a full story, even though it's really only a snippet or event of something larger. "East of Kensington" jumps right into the story, without much background. Then at the end, although it doesn't seem like an ending, has a feeling of completion and finality. This is something that I believe is significant to contemplate while writing the script to our own films. Watching other peoples' short films is extremely helpful and rewarding when you are attempting to do the same, and a lot can be learned from the trials, errors and successes of those who have created films before us.
Anyway, while browsing the site I found an interesting short thesis film created by students of Chapman University, (the same university that the student thesis film "Into the Silent Sea" came from, directed by Andrej Landin) and decided to check it out. It's called "East of Kensington", a thriller written and directed by Kellen Moore during his time at Chapman. It tells the tale of Peter Pan after he drops off Wendy, Michael and John back home to London after their adventures in Neverland. The film takes a disturbing turn, which captivates you till the very end. It's twenty minutes long, which is the same length as the films we're making, so I made sure to pay attention to the structure of a film that's already proven to be successful.
I thought the short was visually impressive. The dark color theme was cohesive during the entire film and gave it a certain tone and mood that was very effective. Also, the dreamlike scenes with Wendy were haunting and beautiful. Overall the shots were truly appealing to the eye and very well executed. Furthermore the attention to detail was spectacular. Everything from the scenery to costumes to the pictures on the walls and in the newspaper were accounted for. This is something to keep in mind when designing our sets and collecting props and costumes for our own films.
Now that we're in the writing and story creating phase of our process, there is a lot to consider about structure and story. A short film only has a certain amount of time to leave an impression, so every part of it must be well thought out and purposeful. Specifically this film, I learned a lot about ways to include back story without taking up too much time or hitting the audience over the head with exposition. Granted, the characters and plot for this film are well known to the audience, so a lot was dependent on that, but there was still an entire implicit history of the characters lives fit into a twenty minute time frame. The use of the dream sequences and careful dialogue to explain what happened to the children while Peter was away was well done.
Another important characteristic of a short is feeling like a full story, even though it's really only a snippet or event of something larger. "East of Kensington" jumps right into the story, without much background. Then at the end, although it doesn't seem like an ending, has a feeling of completion and finality. This is something that I believe is significant to contemplate while writing the script to our own films. Watching other peoples' short films is extremely helpful and rewarding when you are attempting to do the same, and a lot can be learned from the trials, errors and successes of those who have created films before us.
Friday, October 25, 2013
The First – a short film from shortoftheweek.com
Lately I've been trying to make it more of a habit to visit shortoftheweek.com. It's a great way to access the creative development of young filmmakers like myself. This week I watched a short film called "The First". At the beginning it seems like your average sun-kissed love story between a guy and a girl. By two minutes in though, it takes a dramatic twist. "You push like a girl", she says to him as they flirt sitting next to a pond. "Oh yeah?" he says, as the film quickly cuts to him falling onto a bed. You expect her to follow into frame, but she doesn't. Instead, another guy falls on top of him as they start to passionately make out.
WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE. I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS.
I might be lying when I say this, but I'm pretty sure this is the first graphic LGBT short that I've watched. I was confused and turned off, but at the same time drawn in to what this guy's life was all about. The story unfolds to tell a rather interesting story. There is also an incredible montage scene at the very end that is worth checking out. Put on your open minds and accepting eyes and check out this short 13 minutes piece:
I also recommend you support the director, James Sweeney, and check out his website here.
The cinematographer, Greg Cotten, was also a big part of this films success. He has a pretty kick-ass reel that is worth checking out too:
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The Best Short Films
With all of the buzz going around (and our own fiction field final project looming on the horizon), I've recently developed a very strong love for short films. I love movies, and I especially love TV shows, but there's something about telling a complete story in under 20 minutes that just totally piques my interest. Which is why, about a week ago, I searched google for something along the lines of "the best short films." Google didn't let me down.
One of the first things that popped up was a website called shortoftheweek.com, and you can more or less imagine what they feature. Every week or so, they post a new short film, either one that has been doing especially well in film festivals or one that was submitted straight to the site that they thought had some kind of potential. So far, I haven't been let down. Topics range from everything from conquest to puppetry to film noir with absolutely everything in between. So far, I've watched one about an Australian man who gets wing-manned by G.O.D. (the light and funny "Glenn Owen Dodds"), one about a woman who starts to get fed up with her husband's annoying mannerisms (the horrifically dark comedy "It's Not You, It's Me) and one about a high school boy and the adventures that he has in his car (the bittersweet and creative "Orange Drive"). And I can't wait to watch more.
The fact that I'm starting to take more writing and video production classes has really given me this unique insight into how short films are made, and more importantly, how hard they are to make. Taking a long time to introduce a character can be fun, and the experience of really getting to know them is something in and of itself, but you can't do this in short films. I want to be a writer; if you know me, that's not really a huge secret. And right now, one of the most important things that I think I need to learn is how to not only introduce a character and plot in a matter of minutes, but also how to flesh that out and tell a whole story in a very short matter of time. I could be wrong, but I think the key is to start very small and work my way up from there. Watching short films is really helping me out with that.
I couldn't be more excited to take a whack at this with our fiction field project, and it's so cool to know that everyone else feels the same way. I know that everyone is going to work hard to create some awesome projects, and I can't wait to see how everything turns out.
One of the first things that popped up was a website called shortoftheweek.com, and you can more or less imagine what they feature. Every week or so, they post a new short film, either one that has been doing especially well in film festivals or one that was submitted straight to the site that they thought had some kind of potential. So far, I haven't been let down. Topics range from everything from conquest to puppetry to film noir with absolutely everything in between. So far, I've watched one about an Australian man who gets wing-manned by G.O.D. (the light and funny "Glenn Owen Dodds"), one about a woman who starts to get fed up with her husband's annoying mannerisms (the horrifically dark comedy "It's Not You, It's Me) and one about a high school boy and the adventures that he has in his car (the bittersweet and creative "Orange Drive"). And I can't wait to watch more.
The fact that I'm starting to take more writing and video production classes has really given me this unique insight into how short films are made, and more importantly, how hard they are to make. Taking a long time to introduce a character can be fun, and the experience of really getting to know them is something in and of itself, but you can't do this in short films. I want to be a writer; if you know me, that's not really a huge secret. And right now, one of the most important things that I think I need to learn is how to not only introduce a character and plot in a matter of minutes, but also how to flesh that out and tell a whole story in a very short matter of time. I could be wrong, but I think the key is to start very small and work my way up from there. Watching short films is really helping me out with that.
I couldn't be more excited to take a whack at this with our fiction field project, and it's so cool to know that everyone else feels the same way. I know that everyone is going to work hard to create some awesome projects, and I can't wait to see how everything turns out.
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