This week’s pre-reading was an exert from Paul Hardy’s book ‘Filming on a Microbudget’, which focussed on storytelling, and how to determine whether or not that story is appropriate for a microbudget (which Hardy describes as no more than $1000 in 2012). I found a particular line on finding stories interesting – ‘exploring what really happened to you is a good source, but many stories are stranger flights of fantasy that come from something in your unconscious’ (Hardy, 2012). I found this interesting as I think that it’s only true to an extent – your unconscious (or subconscious) is influenced by your conscious, and your life. Though stories might be invented ‘unconsciously’ – I believe that first, there needs to be a trigger, that something needs to happen to you (or your community around you) for the seed to be planted. My personal example being a concept about an issue facing the Autism community – maybe the idea, characters, and plot themselves came from my unconscious, but it is not possible for them to be there without first having real world experience (or my community having real world experience). Even stories about aliens – sure, aliens haven’t come to earth, but they serve as an allegory for something else.
I did find some of Hardy’s questions useful – particularly ‘what is my audience’. I always question who the audience will be if a marginalised character is at the centre of it, and believe that films about margionalised characters unfairly rely on stronger character development. It’s more difficult for the audience to relate to a character who is not like them, so either you need to make the character relatable to a wider range of people (which can be difficult, depending on why they are margionalised, what implications this holds for the film), or, make them especially likeable so the audience cares about what happens to them. Having the margionalised character as a side is something I want to avoid – there is no reason to justify this.
I also think that ‘what is my audience’ relates very heavily to the genre of the product. In my example, it would be crime fiction – so satisfying the general needs of a crime fiction audience, will also gather an audience. However, I still believe that the protagonist holds a lot of weight of a story.
One other question got me – is this the right length. I have to admit that for my idea, no. A ten minute short will not do it justice. What would, is a 30 or 40 minute short film that’s either a sneaky pilot, or an adjusted version of the concept that can still be used as a proof of concept for the series. That is something I’m wanting to explore in this course.
Hardy, P 2012, Filming on a Microbudget, Oldcastle Books, Harpenden, Herts. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [15 February 2022] pp. 15-17
