Constructing the Flower Scene

This is an early sketch of what the flow scene may look like.
I am choosing to film the flower scene early as I estimate that it will take one week to film.
This is due to the rate of the flowers dying.



Instead of shooting the flowers outside in a natural setting, i have opted to film it inside my own house. This allows me to control the different lighting around the flowers, the number of people walking past, litter etc.
I have also opted to do a close up shot of the flowers. This is to see the flowers dying closer up instead of from a distance.



I will be recording 10 minutes of footage every six hours. This means i will be shooting in the following intervals: 7 a.m. 1.p.m. 7 p.m. and 1.a.m.
This allows me to have a shot of the flowers during four different parts of the day, making my scene look more realistic as opposed to just having two shots; day and night.
I plan to do this for a week and on the final day have someone walk past and step on the flowers.
Once i have gathered all my footage, i will speed it up on iMovie.

The Flower Scene

For my last scene in the film there will be a close up shot of a bouquet of flowers. This will also be the same shot where my credits appear. This will be at the bottom of the screen.

The scene will show a time lapse video of the flowers dying. The flowers are by the side of the road where Alex has died.

The dying flowers by the side of the road represent his dying importance in society, from a teenage boy to just memory. He has jus become another statistic and jus another fallen victim of knife crime.

I believe that this scene is important in my film as it is highlighting a key issue in modern day society.

The scene will last around 30 seconds and will still be in black and white.

The music playing over the credits will be Claire De Lune by Claude Debussy

Additional research

Offside Short Film



An important part of this short film is it corresponds to real life issues.
It was shot during September 2005, at the security zone that separates between Israel and the Palestine Authority.
This film is about the conflict between Israel and Palestine.
Through out the film the football match being broardcasted through he radio shows a moment of unity and how the two conflicting sides are actually similar to each other.
The radio is significant in the film as the commentray draws comparisons to the real life situation.
Especially at the end when both sides have been shot.
The commentator says
"Its a tragedy"
"nobody can win in a situation like this"
"theres absolutely no point to this" etc.
Although the commentators are talking about the two sides in the football match. The implications are clear.

I hope to make my film similar to this as an important point about it, is the comparisons i want to draw to real life.
I believe that this will be an important aspect in my film.

The opening Scene

I have already sorted out how I am going to start and the end the film.

The film starts off with a close up shot of Alex. He is stairing into the camera and says the following monologue.

Alex: My name is Alex Holden and I died on the 27th September 2009. I was shot in the stomach by a rival gang member. I was 18 years old.

Fades to Black. Cue title.

Piano music plays over the top.

Film Storyline- A Rough Outline

The story is about a teenager who dies after getting shot.
The teenager is a boy called Alex Holden. This is in reference to Alex Delarge from A Clockwork Orange and Holden Caulfield from The catcher In The Rye.


The film starts off with Alex revealing that he has died. (The remaining duration of the film shows his last moments of his life)
The scene cuts to Alex and his friends in an alleyway. They look antisocial and are drinking and smoking. Alex is told to go to the shops to buy more alcohol. When he returns he finds that his friends are being confronted by a rival gang. Alex tries to intervene but ends up getting shot.
A voice over from Alex explains who killed him and how he died.

The film will be shot in black and white and in a documentary style.
The reason for shooting in black and white, is because i want to make it feel gritty and lifeless.
The reason for shooting in a documentary style is because I want it to be as real to life as possible.
Also by shooting it in a documentary style it will make it easier for me to shoot the film.

Research

I started my research by watching various short films on Youtube. i chose to watch films that lasted approximately 5 minutes long so i could get an idea of what my film should look like. By this I mean, in regards to a beginning, a middle and an end.

Compared to a full feature length film, a short film has to be more straight to the point. There is no time for over long dialogue scenes to tell the story. I found that music, lighting, setting and emotions have to tell the story.

I have also found that dialogue is kept to a minimal. Most of the film is composed of still or slow moving shots.

I will use these conventions for my short film in order to make it successful.

Brief

To create a short film in is entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, together with a poster and a film magazine review page featuring the film.