In the first Assignment Brief we were given, we were asked to produce a short film either relating to the trials and tribulations of growing up in Derby or coming up with our own idea but making it aim at younger people. We developed our story off very sensitive subjects at first but also stuck to the brief by creating the young target audience. We did this by taking a classic fairy-tale (Cinderella) and modernizing it by adding action and horror. Personally we thought this narrative would interest young teenagers like ourselves as we developed this thought from our own opinions and after we presented our idea to the class.
Firstly, our short film idea focused around the whole fairy tale romance genre. There were 5 main characters; Daisy/Cinderella, Scott, Stepmother and the two stepsisters. All of the characters related to our Cinderella theme. The main protagonist was Daisy, a cafĂ© worker who lived with her stepmother and sisters. Scott is her boyfriend. Our original story based around the original fairy-tale but with a twist. Daisy worked with her family in the cafĂ©, but she was treated terribly. She was asked on a date by Scott but was forbidden to go by her Stepmother. She sneaked out, but had to be back by midnight. When she isnât back by that time, her stepmother hits her but Daisy retaliates and stabs her. Scott enters, and they both decide to run away and change their names. Scott reveals a pill heâs made called ââFairy Godmotherââ which changed eye colour and state of mind. But at the end they get caught anyway. Our group all thought this was very creative and original as we tried hard to be creative while merging the Cinderella concept with our own ideas.
By the end of the few months we were given to plan our short film, our story and characters completely changed due to complications and opinions. First of all, we calculated that the film will be a lot longer than 5 minutes, which did not fit with the regulations of the assignment brief. So, our group decided to cut half of it, but to the extent that it still makes sense and carries on with the story. Secondly, we could not find a female actress for the main part as many people were busy and nobody wanted to be involved within the romance genre. This is when we decided to change the story so the two main characters were both males and brothers. Daisy was now Marcus, Scott stayed himself but Marcusâ brother, the stepmother was now a father, and there wasnât any step-sisters. Due to this, we completely ditched the whole fairy-tale romance genre and replaced it with a tale of two brothers running away from the murder of their step-father. With this, our short film became a lot more serious and easier to make. We filmed the first two scenes with Arran, Ben and Jordan which were still similar to our original ideas for the scenes. But when we filmed the last scenes, Arran was unavailable for his role. Our group had to compromise to figure out how to make our film without the main character. Originally, Jordan and Arran (Scott and Marcus) were to go upstairs and plan their escape. Instead, Scott was to murder Marcus off-screen so the story focused on Scott instead.
All of the pre-production work that was mentioned in the assignment brief included creating the scripts, storyboards, film scheduling, actor and location agreements, budgeting and floor planning. Our pre-production planning did take a while and made us delay the actual filming. Despite this, we did complete all of the paperwork in an acceptable and non-rushed manner. Our group worked together effectively to complete it all equally.
Despite all of the complications with locations, actors and paperwork, our film ended up really well and how we wanted it to. My group all agree that our project ended up even better than we expected it to be. When we were actually able to go out of college and film, neither of us had difficulties filming, directing or acting. We filmed with ease, and with not many outtakes and bloopers. As I filmed a lot of it, I did not use the college camera but one of my own so I knew all the settings. The editing went well but when we first did it, we knew practically nothing about the software. But as time went on, both me and Josh learnt a lot about it. I think next time I make a film, I should hire proper actors so the production seems a lot more professional.
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