The posts that come under this title (and category) will obviously belong to the Film/TV 1 course, in response to and from the provided stimuli.
Like some of my fellow Media scholars, I come from a background of creating short films since the age of 15 (though I have not done so due to lack of inspiration…and procrastination, until now). In those days, however, I tended to create my work solo, dealing with actors who were easily directed and acted with robot-like obedience. These were family members and close friends who were willing enough to work with my highly controlling yet imaginative (I hope) directing style. My goals for this semester is to gain skills in working with other people who were not so dependent on me as a director, working together in our own recognised roles within a crew. I have yet to create short films in which I had to deal with creative disputes and actors who had creative minds of their own.
In terms of writing for a short film, I have always begun with stories that were usually supplemented by characters that appeared to be run by their fates. As the God-Creator of my short film, I acted as a person playing chess, and my characters were my pawns. Jasmine’s lecture showed me the importance of providing depth to my characters, as well as a convenient formula in doing so. Here is a checklist to follow:
- Make them want something badly
- Make bad things happen to them
- Push boundaries of expectations on them
More importantly, characters must be what is described as “larger than life”, as people who are “weak-willed cannot be dealt by drama”. That means no wallflowers, introverts or nice guys… that is unless the third rule is applied to them (e.g. Walter White in “Breaking Bad” and Daenerys Targaryen in “Game of Thrones”)
On the other hand, the readings had given me two points to focus upon. Firstly, that is the importance of deviating from cliches, and sometimes, the need to use them. Especially in short films, filmmakers are not given enough time to properly establish the characters’ backstories and personalities. It is on these instances that one must peruse cliches to help the audience understand the characters to follow the story. Lastly, the process of coming up with ideas for stories was bogged down by ways of finding “instant inspiration”, to avoid long waits for the muse. It was interesting (and convenient) to learn that not all films stem from a creative outflow, but are sometimes the results of what is in demand. A particularly juicy example was provided of Jacques Rivette, a filmmaker who was contracted to write for a film that could be created with a budget of 45 million francs.