Hunt for filming locations, props and conducting experiments;

The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker;

All films can fit into certain genres but Christopher Booker has gone one step further and developed seven basic plots which films follow. Including my own examples these seven plots are:

Overcoming the monster- This simply describes the act of a hero destroying/killing/capture of a mass villain but the film includes many twists to the plot. The plot here can be used across many genres of film such as sci-fi, action and horror. Examples of this are James Bond and Jaws.

Rags to Riches- Usually entwined with rom-coms and love stories this plot involves character whom are from poor backgrounds to rise to fame by meeting the perfect man/woman or opportunity. Even though we assume people in the 21st century are above the breadline we can still use this plot across many eras in time such as Cinderella originating from Ancient Greece up to today with films such as Maid in Manhattan.

The Quest- Most common in recent years "The Quest" is a popular basic plot with blockbusters such as Avatar and re-make of Clash of the Titans. Involving many different formats such as CGI and real life situations it puts the audience into a new world and gives them the escape they thrive on when visiting the cinema. The Quest is usually based around an outsider who is sent to become a hero by putting themselves in great danger that could result in life or death. Sometimes it also involves the rescue of a female interest.

Voyage and Return- Alice in Wonderland is the perfect illustration of Voyage and Return for the reasons its involves the main character entering another world bring the audience with them. They experience new life and complications such as the scene in Alice in Wonderland where she has to find a way to shrink to fit through the door to enter Wonderland. The theme of escapism is widely used in films that require this plot.

Comedy- Engages the audience with comic acts with ranges of genres such as sci-fi-comedy and romantic comedy. Popular comics such as Will Ferrel and Vince Vaughan have a reputation for their stomach crunching lines which thrill each individual of the viewing audience. Films such as The Proposal, Anchorman and The Hangover have be world wide box office successes.

Tradegy- Often targeting audiences of the female sex, tragedy is popular for its heartbreaking stories such as Romeo and Juilet. Most frequently they involve two people falling in love but then broken by death, family issues or putting an ocean between them. The strain of this is a universal theme which most people experience in their lifetime after all we all fall in love and have our hearts broken one way or another. Love being the main theme among tragedy is just one of many, but their is also loss in particular The Bucket List and Seven Pounds show the effects the aftermass of a tragedy can change someones life.

Rebirth- Common in Christmas films such as Scrooge, Rebirth is the process of one character changing who they were in the past after being faced with situations such as death, crime or realization. Tylers Dad in Remember Me has ignored his children since the divorce of his wife. After his daughter experiences bullying and his son, Tyler dies from an act of terrorism during 9/11 his view changes. This chapter of his life has taught him that life is short and you shouldn't waste what time you have left.

Intial Idea Extra Research~

Dangerous Driving- Speed; By Think Organisation:

This is one of the most famous dangerous driving adverts released by the THINK organisation and its one that has stuck in my mind since its release. In our piece we plan to not reveal the identity of our main character likes the video above but we have located a filming location alike the one in the advert. We needed to find a location which was quiet but could mimic a main road simply to give the effect we want to anticipate on our audience.

Intial Idea Extra Research+;

Dangerous Driving- Phones & Alcohol; Made as part of someones first uni piece:

Similar to ideas in our initial idea were we match a toy car with the "actual car" we will mimic in our piece as we cant use a real life car crash. This is more of a comical piece of work including factors such as upbeat music and use of a games console. However, ending the piece on "GAME OVER" and stating that life cannot be restarted like computer games put across the image of how serious it is to drive safely. It is obvious that this groups target audience was 16-25 years due to the influence of musical style, use of young actors functioning games console and camera shots.

Intial Idea Extra Research;

The decision to go with Intial Idea One came after we discussed the interest of the audience to the experiments we want to do with camera work. As a group we laid out ideas of the event in which happens in the twist of the plot and together we discovered that the impact of a car accident would fit easily into the script but also shock the audience via morals.

Below I have researched current dangerous driving adverts released by various groups in order to gather more ideas. Through these videos I have found the outcome of these stories and their consequences. There also may be ethic we would need to discuss as group before filming such as how this may affect the audience and what we can/cannot show visually.



Dont Drink & Drive Advert From Germany.
Germany has one of the fastest roads in the world therefore its no surprising the Government release videos that have a big impact on this issue.
Visually this advertisement is very upsetting for the audience to watch and if shown in the UK I think it would be shown after the watershed.
However, I quite like the impact of the car parts flying all over the scene such as the car alloy. But, even still we couldn't possibly be as explict as this piece.

Audience Research Questionnaire;

Drafting this questionnaire will give ideally help us create and improve our intial ideas. We plan to ask around 30 participants to answer the questions below from a range of ages.

1) Name:

2) Age Group: [ ] 16-25 [ ] 26-35 [ ] 36+

3) Do you know what a short film is?: [ ] Yes [ ] Slightly [ ] No

4) Have you seen any short films?: [ ] Yes [ ] No

5) If yes, Name the short film you have seen: ........................................

6) Are you influenced by reviews, posters or tv spots to watch films: [ ] Yes [ ] Sometimes [ ] No

7) How long would you like the short film to be?: [ ] 0-3 minutes [ ] 4-6 minutes [ ] 7-10 minutes

8) Out of these seven storylines which would you prefer to watch:
[ ] Overcoming the monster (James Bond, Jaws)
[ ] Rags to Riches (Cinderella, Maid in Manhattan)
[ ] The Quest (Avatar, Clash of the Titans)
[ ] Voyage and Return (Alice in Wonderland, Fight Club)
[ ] Comedy (The Proposal)
[ ] Tradegy (Romeo and Juilet, Dorian Gray)
[ ] Rebirth (Scrooge, Remember Me)

9) How many characters do you think should be included in a short film (max. 10 minutes)? [ ] 0-2 [ ] 3-5 [ ] 6+

10) In a short film , what sound layout do you think works best?
[ ] Scripted with background music [ ] No music with script [ ] No script, just music

Intial Ideas Audience Research;

Intial Ideas;

Media Production Gantt Chart

Since we have almost finished our target audience research we have now decided a broad timeline in which we have to complete our brief within.

September- Research

October- Research

November- Planning & Ancillary Task: Film Review

December- Planning

January- Filming & Ancillary Task: Film Poster

February- Filming

March- Editing

April- Editing

May- Evaluation

This rough time scale is subject to change. However, once we have come to a decision which short film idea we are going to produce, we will then post a more detailed schedule