Shortlist of film ideas

• The Freelands 
• Bad Boiz
• The incredible Journey of Yacin Yanit
• M.A.D
• No Way Out
• Miss Singleton
• Cross Over

The two films that I would like to do most is No Way Out and Miss Singleton.

No Way Out: A group of school friends rent a house to stay for the holidays, but die one by one after one character discovers something strange is inside the house and haunts them all.

Miss Singleton: A story of a woman after her seperation from long term boyfriend after baby dies. Invities audience into her life. She commits suicide coincidently the same time her boyfriend opens the house door to come back to her.

Worlds Best Locations

Below are some of the world's best sites and locations in the world. This is useful so I can see what type of locations I should or could use to help tell the story of my silent movie.

This is important as the setting/location helps build the genre of a film and gives the audience knowledge of what is going on without the use of sound.

                           

1. Stonehenge
2. Victoria Fall
3. Old Sanaa
4. Forbidden City
5. Chichen Itez
6. New York City

Worlds Most Famous Photos

These are my best photos from some of the world's most famous photos ever taken. Hope you enjoy.

I've chosen to put these up as I believe it will help me with my silent film. The shots, colour and cinematography all tell something about the situation and image and will help me with types of shots I should use for my short silent film.

This is a photo of a young girl living in a refugee camp in. It was taken in 1984 by Steve McCurry in Pakistan.

Her sea green eyes make this photo very popular because it makes her look like she has some sort of power.

Apart from the eyes, what makes this photo even better is her costume, hair and make up. Immediately we can see/predict that she does not have money and is poor which leads to me looking at her ethnicity which is Arab.

From this I guess she is probably suffering from the war maybe in Iraq/Afghanistan.

The medium shot the photographer has used may have been used to show the effect it has on children whom we can see through her facial expressions.  

As the photo is shot in colour we are able to see every detail clearly, which affects the overall look of the photo as I see her as a victim.

The atmosphere created by the lighting tells me that she has found something because she looks directly at the camera.  

The photo was most likely taken in a poor country as the floor (location) looks dusty. The intentions of the photographer were to tell people that there is a huge difference between the rich and the poor, which co notates that there is still a lot of work to do for a equal society.

It is a close up of hands, one of a child and the other of an adult. The hand of the child represents the poorer world and the hand of the adult represents the richer world connotation that the rich need to help (care, feed) the poor just like an adult helps a child.

This picture is unique as it shows the differences between two people living in different parts of the world. The juxtaposition of the photo shows a poor African child holding hands with a man from a first world country. The fact that the setting or face, body and costume of the two people are not included but only the hands show just how a small part of a photo can tell everything and ignore everything else.

The overall look of the photo looks planned as it is taken in colour meaning I can see in more detail.

Directional lighting is used to show the long shadows of the man holding hands with the child on the floor which could suggest that it is very important.

This photo was taken on May 25th 1965 during between Ali and Liston in Lewiston, Maine.

The photographer wanted Ali to be seen as a powerful man almost unbeatable due to he is seen in a medium shot showing almost al his body.

The thing that makes this photo famous is the camera angle in which Muhammad Ali is shown in comparison to his opponent Sonny Liston. He is seen in a medium long shot and is standing centre stage looking down at Sonny who's been knocked out on the floor representing Ali as victorious.

The photo is taken in black and white making it look old. It also makes the fight look very one sided as in though Liston was beaten up so badly, showing it in colour would make it look really bloody. 

This photo was taken in 1993 by South African Kevin Carter in Sudan.

It was taken near a village when the girl decided to stop due to starvation.

Kevin wanted people to be aware of what was going on in Africa and how this picture shows that many other children have been killed and eaten by vultures.

The photo could also suggest that it isn't only AIDS/HIV and other diseases that are killing poor children but natural things as well.

Not only does this photo show poverty, but it also tells a story of this small girl being watched closely by a vulture as it prepares to eat her. As my film has to be silent a photo like this that tells a story will be fantastic because the audience will amazed and continue watching.   

Music Videos

You may be wondering why I'm looking at music videos but I chose it because many of them tell a story using a variety of camera angles, shots and movements, editing and Mise en Scene.

Even though there is dialogue in music videos, the song can be used as a soundtrack or theme which will be used in my 5 minute film.

I will be focusing on long music videos as they are normally around 5minutes.

Below is the opening of one of Michael Jackson's most famous music videos

It starts of with an establishing shot of a black and white big and very old building leading to a variety of shots in black and white. In the video they use close ups of Michael, continuity by dissolving, pans, etc.

Even though the video is 7 minutes it will be great as a short film or film in general because of the storyline and Mise en Scene like the props (gun) and costume (jeans and hoodie) which follows their personalities as gangsters.

What I really liked about the storyline was that it is different from other crime drama stories. Bad by Michael had a twist to it which was he went against his friends and became their enemy. In my opinion this is good because it isn't predictable and makes the me want to keep watching.

The Mise en Scene was good because it followed the codes and conventions of crime drama films. The video was shot in the middle 80's and so some of the costume the gangsters were wearing may be different to what gangsters where today for example leather jackets. This could include hair styles like the Afro and Jheri Curls
The song 'Bad' could be used as the soundtrack and they used sound effects like when they were looking at the character with the gun and digetic sound of the student speaking to each other as background.

Below is another video but by Eminem - Stan

It starts with a zoom in through a window of the character called Stan. They use a variety of shots like high angle of Stan and his wife in the bathroom and use Pan of Stan in his Eminem world bedroom and spotlight on him in a low key lighting room.

The video will be a great film due to the flashbacks like of Stan in the concert representing life.

Time and location was also a smart idea because they chose it at night time and mainly shooting in the attic. These two tell the audience what of song and video it will be. Most videos shot at night and in the attic are mostly horror or films with an unhappy narrative.

 If a film it would be a drama. The song will be used as a soundtrack.

How to make good story ideas

These are the most unusual and different ways of thinking up a good story idea.

1. Dreaming/imagining
2. Personal life story
3. Something you've witnessed
4. Advice
5. Media( magazines, newspapers, TV

As well as all of these you need to be really creative and hard working.

My film (made by pictures)

 I decided to take pictures of cinematography and put them together to create a movie. I also used a soundtrack (non - digetic music) to make the movie more interesting and to support the narrative. The song is by Nas and called 'I Can'. It is about how you can be whatever you want if you put your mind to it and work hard for it.

The first picture was used to represent the world. The tiny building in the center is the Earth as it's small and has darkness around it. Everything around is the universe as the trees are much bigger. The lighting only reveals parts of cars but not much of the car saying the Earth is filled with darkness.

Poverty

The second picture shows poverty. I reveal part of a Estate  by its setting with rubbish bins outside suggesting that things to do with rubbish is part of the peoples life. The medium shot gives details about each window and state of them as well does the high key lighting.

Then is the medium close up of me looking at the expensive watch. The hat on my head tells the audience the type of character I am. As the expensive watch is away from me and I have a cheap half broken one near me, it represents my poverty. I'm also staring at the expensive one suggesting I want to have that or be part of that life (rich/successful)

Anger

A close up is then shown of me holding a weapon (prop) with my hands in a fist representing me as angry, meaning facial expression or body movements doesn't need to be shown to tell the audience how a character feels. As my hand is near the door it suggest that I'm moving there and the foreground is very dark showing I'm on my way to darkness which involves anger and can lead to all kinds of things.

The next is a medium close up of me staring up angrily. My body language is crouch revealing I don't like what I'm seeing. The lighting also reflects on my face showing my facial expressions which isn't pleasant. The fact that I'm facing the lighting shows I'm against the good side or not there.

Loneliness

The first one clearly shows loneliness as you see me by myself while on the other bench some students are talking together looking cheerfull. The lighting reveals our body language with me looking isolated and the other characters looking happy.

Next is a medium long shot of me center of rule of third. Loneliness is represented here through body language of me folding my arms by myself, with help of the lighting on me.

After themes

Then I show the medium long shot of food. This was used to represent life as you have good things which was the good food on the left (potato, water) and bad on the right (biscuits, ice crisps)

Then is a over the shoulder of me reaching. Around me is a room showing the setting. As I am reaching the lighting it represents me to wanting to get it. This represents me as wanting to change my life around as I am reaching for the light (good, joy, positive things).

Last is a close up of a key in which I say it is the key to success, basically meaning me trying to change my life around.

Paintings and meanings behind them

Part of my research for my A2 coursework is looking at certain paintings that tell a story or have a message behind them. For this reason I and my class went to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square to take a look at some of the best ones. The paintings are clearly detailed and create a story by...

• By camera shot and angle
• Colour design
• Setting
• Props
• Lighting
• Costume
• Body language & facial expressions

The first painting is called the 'The Ambassadors' by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1533.

It was taken during the Henry VIII years and the characters were famous during the period. The man on the left is called Jean de Dinteville who was the French ambassador to court of Henry and the man on the right is Georges de Selve.

Jean de Dinteville costume is very posh and expensive as he was wealthy, while Georges de Selve is wearing religious clothing. The objects behind them are hymn books, math book, globe and a lute with a broken string to represent discord.

The painting is about the religious struggle between the Catholic Church and Henry VIII which the characters came to sort out. Body language and costume is shown through a medium shot, mood is shown through set design and colour design. The skull at the bottom is used to show at the end of the day everything is going to lead to death. The fact it isn't shown clearly suggests you will not see it coming.

The second painting is called 'The family of Darius before Alexander' painted by Paolo Veronese in 1570.

The groups of men on the right are Alexander the Great and his army and the characters on the left on the floor and the Persian Royal family.
The painting is said to be about the army defeating Darius who is the Persian king and so Alexander comes to get his family, but the mother begs for forgiveness. The man she is begging to is said not to be Alexander, but the man behind him.

Paolo Veronese uses location to show that the area is royal as you can see a huge palace and that it is in Persia because of the monkey. However the artist changes the appearance of the royal family as they resemble European features and dress like them to, but if you look at the top left you see some Persian men.


The last painting is called 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump' painted by Joseph Wright of Derby in 1768.

It was set during the time when Air Pumps were introduced during the 17th Century to test on animals.
 
The lighting in the painting is very strong as it reveals the characters and their facial expressions.The two men sitting down seem amused, the boy and girl standing seem casual, the boy is pulling the blind, the young girls seem really upset perhaps thinking the scientist is killing the bird and the man sitting down either doesn't seem bothered or against it.
 The moon in the top right nearly covered by clouds shows it is late night and can reflect with the darkness around the room representing life and death.
 
It is about a scientist demonstrating the role of a vacuum on a bird by taking air from the tube, then quickly putting it back in when he could see it was about to die. He is said to be playing God as he has the powers to life and death which is clearly seen through the composition of him.