Independent Study Areas.

Cinematography
The dictionary defines cinematography as 'the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema.' I need to think about this as this can change the atmosphere of my film in the future. 
Some of the techniques to create this effect include filters, and these are used to dramatically tint the film, and this creates atmosphere. These would also be altered depending on the genre of the film. For example, the film 'Wall Street' uses a gold tint in the opening sequence as this makes the atmosphere link to money, capitalism and greed, which is all around the film.

Memento
I will be exploring the narrative, the timeline and the internal monologue voice over in this film Memento. When we had a person come in the other week, she had mentioned this film, so I decided to go and watch it and see what it was like.

Memento (2000) is an American psychological thriller about a man who has a memory condition, anterograde amnesia, which disables his brain to attain new information. He has to tattoo himself to remind him who he is and what has happened in his life. This film also starts at the end of the film, where the main character kills Teddy, and through flashbacks, it shows you how those events lead to that. This film has has received praise for it's unique, nonlinear narrative structure and themes of memory, perception, grief, self-deception and revenge.

Through coloured flashbacks, the audience learn about his life and what events have happened previously. There are black and white scenes, which show the present time, talking to a mysterious caller about the murder. The complex flashbacks were easy to do in film, as they had quite a lot of time to complete this in, however this would be too difficult to do in our short film, as there wouldn't be enough time to construct the time line and the past, and wouldn't be able to make sense in five - six minutes. This however has opened my eyes as to ways in which to tell the narrative. This film wouldn't have been half as interesting if it wasn't told the way it was.


When I was watching this film, if i hadn't had known about the timeline jumps, I would have been quite confused, however, it still took some getting used to, as I hadn't seen many films like this. I liked this because it was something different, and showed a different angle on how he lived his life, as it felt as if you was going through the same journey he was when he was trying to remember pieces of information. This helps the audience gain an emotional connection for the main character, as they feel empathy for him, watching him go through that routine daily. The confusion of the narrative also helps the viewer to understand the same confusion he has to go through all the time, therefore deepening the emotional connection.

There was a constant internal monologue from the main character, and this made you feel that you was a part of him, as you can hear his thoughts. That on top of the confusion of the narrative made you as an audience feel like you knew him as not just a character, but like a human being. This also helped the audience understand what he was going through, and how he felt.


From my own reading of the booklet that Becky Knapp gave us, it gave me many ideas of what I need to think about when writting my script. some of the main points that I picked out for myself to think about include:

*Each stpry requires three basic elements - A world
                                                               - A character
                                                               - A problem
      The world has to somewhere familiar, as I need to establish this quickly in order to save time later on to develop the character and the problem. Their world can be anything as long as it is visually able to show on screan and the auidience can understand.
      A few questions I can ask about the character can include who are they, what are they like, where do they live and what factors can influence them. There should only be one main character, as the film is too short to introduce another main character, and we do not have the time for this, A film with more than one main character would be seen as a feature film and we are not looking at these at the moment.
      Some questions that I can ask myself about the problem can include what is the problem, how will the audience recognise the problem, are the stakes high enough and am I telling this from the right point of view. With regards to to problem, there are many avenues to which I can go down. There are two main bodies that the problem can come from, either internally or externally.

*Another thought that came up that was raised by Daniel Mulloy and that was about the budget. He had to use a single location as this was all his budget would allow for. In my short film, I will have to consider to settings and areas that are easily accesable and wouldnt involve money, as we do not have a budget other than what we would be willing to pay. This will ultimabtly affect the storyline, as we cannot do a school film in a house etc.

* There are three main things that are driving the character in any short film, and these include:
   - A want
   - A need
   - An obligation
The basis of the film is what makes it hard for the character to pursure their want, their need and their obligation.

*Another important aspect of the film is the tone of the film. The tone of a film i slinked to the genre. As we are only creating a short film, we have to stick to one tone throughout the film, whereas if we were creating a feature film, we could have a change in the tone.

*There are ten easy ways to test whether our ideas have all the elements needed for a short film. They include; - A title
            - A genre or a tone
            - A setting - a time and a place
            - Main character
            - A want, a need and an obligation
            - An opposition
            - A catalyst for change
            - A climax
            - A resolution
            - How the audience feels, or the theme

These are really good points that I need to think about before I produce my short film, and they will help me to finalise my ideas.