In week 4 we saw some fantastic pitches. Not all got through but that is OK. This is the process we need to get used to as filmmakers. It’s not about having one good idea. Instead, it’s about a consistent and evolving creative practice and vision, and the ability to bring your collaborators along for the ride.

In week 5 we’ll be seeing some updated and revised pitches and getting an update on those projects that got greenlit.

Have a look at some of the great presentation preparation and research. The following mood boards helped us get the tactile feeling and approach of this expressionist short… Enfants Curieux

TIM – pdf of the pitch for ‘The Melancholy Tale of a Sad, Dark, Brooding Fan’

FamilyPortrait – pdf for the pitch for ‘Family Portrait‘

Finding Love in Hell PITCH – pdf for the pitch for ‘Finding Love in Hell‘

Remember: 

1. Think about who you are and what it is that needs to leap out of your mind and into the mind of the audience. 
2. Start simple.
3. Research, read, watch, listen and grow the idea. 
4. Find the ear! 
5. Find a way to pitch the idea and bring along your team. 

For those who are keen, this is a funding competition open to international entries. Go for it! Submissions close April 4.

Musicbed wants to fund your film

After reading the majority of your Project Brief 1 blog posts (still waiting on a few of you … !!!) I thought I’d jot down a few points for you to consider as we move further down the river and into the jungles of the Studio. These points will make up the criteria / matrix against which I grade your written work in the next project briefs. Remember as well that for Briefs 3 and 4 you will be reflecting on actual process and projects you have undertaken.

1. Professional standards. How you write in your reflections is a reflection on your own standards. Your standards reflect how you will be in your professional lives and so it matters. A reflection does not have to be formal. It can expressive, humorous, full of disparate connections and varied media. It must however be coherent in that it allows insight into how you got from point A to point B and the lessons you learned along the way.
2. Referencing and citations. We are in an academic environment and so referencing must be disciplined. Please check the library website for the referencing guide (see Harvard Quickguide).
3. More on referencing. Referencing points the marker toward your research. This is important to be able to follow the paper trail but also because it allows the marker to understand the extent to which you have been able to absorb, summarise and re-articulate the publication in question. Have you understood its context? Have you transformed its context? Have you used it with interest and insight or are you filling in the wordcount? Illuminate your thinking with supporting text and case studies.
4. Research. Why research? Because it’s fun and it’s where you deepen your knowledge and awareness of topic. In our case the topic is: ‘who are you and what sort of film are you going to make?’ Noone exists in  a vacuum and in terms of the creative aspect of our course, research means how you contextualise, develop and communicate your ideas.
5. A point by point way to think about how to structure a piece of reflective writing:
   1. report
   2. respond
   3. discuss (argue)
   4. conclude
   5. points to continue

Another short. This time Australian and directed by Jennifer Kent. This film was later developed into ‘The Babadook’ (2014). Have a think about the continuity from the short film to the feature film. Is there a theme or a visual style or a soundscape that is consistent across these two films? What might that mean in terms of how Jennifer Kent talked about and pitched her vision of the film?

Taken from Olivia’s blog post..

A really interesting short film with fantastic textures and tones. A great sound design. Shot locally as well.

67

dir: Kasimir Burgess

prod: Julia Ciccarone

Google_Slides_Week3

This week we looked at Gestalt principles in photographic (and cinematographic) composition. We focussed on Gregory Crewdson, Cindy Sherman and Arthur Felig in particular for their strong sense of narrative and narrative – tension.

Take a look at this vid for a bit more background on Crewdson and his techniques and motivations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7CvoTtus34

Hi Gang,

Thanks go to my colleague Mark Poole for this link:

We will be picking up on some of these ideas next week as we move towards our pitches in Week 4.

These are the films we viewed in the week 2 studio:

Think about the director’s motivation and purpose. What can you see here that might filter through into subsequent filmmaking practice?

Two Cars, One Night (Taika Waititi; 2005)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6Pc6cBP-8U&index=1&list=PLZS9lo3cG6_Pcw4UuyHk1WaCccz8XA7R9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tvtoyk9DisM

This week we started a series of writing activities to brush off the cobwebs, looked at various short films for analysis, discussed some of the basic elements of a film’s composition and style and most importantly discussed ‘theme‘.  For us, theme is a word without a strict definition. It is a word with many possibilities. It is what we want to say to the audience. It is how we want to affect the audience. It is how we bring along our filmmaking collaborators and steer the ship on course. As a screenwriter, or as a visual artist, or as a photographer; as anyone who is trying to communicate anything through visual or audio representation, ask yourself these questions:

Where are you going?

What are your values?

What is your purpose?

What is in your head and heart that you want to transplant into the heads and hearts of your audience?

Ask these questions of any of the filmmakers and their short films that we have looked at this week. What answers can you find? Blog about it!

FYI – these films count as ‘screenings’ to be used for reflections for Project Brief 1.