Iat 202 lecture 04

1. Iat 202 lecture 04 • Short film

2. TURN YOUR CLICKERS ON

3. Motion design: animation principles What best describes this animation principle? • Arcs • Slow in and slow out • Follow through • Anticipation • Squash and stretch

4. Motion design: animation principles What best describes this animation principle? • Arcs • Slow in and slow out • Follow through • Anticipation • Squash and stretch

5. Time and timing The motion design principle “Timing” is… • Planning object movement so that it has different speeds to convey a sense of physics, such as weight, gravity, friction. • Planning the amount of time one object moves in comparison to another. • The difference between foreground and background object movements. • Having some objects keep moving while one has stopped. • It is keeping track of time using software such as AE.

6. Time and timing The motion design principle “Timing” is… • Planning object movement so that it has different speeds to convey a sense of physics, such as weight, gravity, friction. • Planning the amount of time one object moves in comparison to another. • The difference between foreground and background object movements. • Having some objects keep moving while one has stopped. • It is keeping track of time using software such as AE.

7. today • Form teams in Lab this week • Today: short film ideas • Next week: how to storyboard.

8. Short Story Ideas Short Stories can be anything – be imaginative! Lecture notes Adapted from: BBC writers room (short film) The best short films are often a moment that is played out, but one that has a story at its heart.

9. Brainstorm: good ideas take work

10. where do ideas come from? http://vimeo.com/19447662

11. Be careful of clichés • Because there are so many of them in short films • hit-men for hire, • post office heists, • people seeing themselves die, • children representing innocence, • dysfunctional abusive relationships • films about writing or making films, Lets not forget: • Sleeping through exams • It was all a dream • How much I love my dog / cat, what could they be thinking… • Unrequited love story that ends in unhappy couple staring at old photos (key sad music).

12. 01: Develop your idea Part 01 of Storyboard: One Pager

13. 02: Visual thinking • Visualization • means not just individual shots but how the sequences connects together. • Thinking in sound. • Exercise: think of your mother. • 02: Start to sketch out how you would show your idea. What can you tell through images that don’t need to be told in story? Annotate images with sound notes.

14. Telephone Call – Looking At

15. Telephone Call – Looking Into

16. Telephone Call - Creating

17. 03: Sequence: order of events

18. Deductive Sequence Ideally suited for large screen (cinema or large monitor) Starts wide and moves in through medium and close-up Elements of this approach can be found in older films, but it is often considered too slow for modern audiences Modern work more inductive

19. Inductive sequence Go from details to overview / or no overview built from pieces Viewer uses psychological closure to explain the story Influenced by television, music videos, new media Faster pace for modern audience

20. Let’s review • Concept (one pager) • Visualize (with sound) • Sequence (order of events) • Draw storyboard noting camera angle, movement, cuts, sound. • Goal:Intensify, interpret and clarify for audience through angles, effects and sound.

21. What Makes a Good Short? • An Exciting & Original Idea • A Strong Script • Good Acting • High Production Values • Strong Beginning • Avoid Repetition & PunchlineTwists • Exciting New Techniques & Style Excerpted from BBC film network.

22. Philip Ilson

23. Short Films • Drift: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00bzm8g • I drift, half awake, half asleep. Moving through the city I recall but have never been to. • A Jump From a Platform: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004r6xc • A pause in an untouchable moment • Adjustment:http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p006dc5l • A diarist searches for flickers of hope in a drama of emotional and technical obsession. • On Miles Platting Station:http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p005bq9z • A mixed-media animated adaptation of Simon Armitage's poem 'On Miles Platting Station'. • Nachtmaschine:http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004r6wj • Night vs. light, music vs. motion, figuration vs. abstraction. • Geri’s Game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m7dcbIKvlw • (live action) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lmn_WgdK6E • True: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2fxilMv79zs#! • DOODLEBUG - short film by Christopher Nolan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-WhKt_CkXD0#! • PIXELS by Patrick JEAN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ugV6cLgwomo#! • Tonight is not a good night for dying: http://vimeo.com/34657854

24. Short Films • http://www.oscars.org/awards/saa/index.html • http://www.niceshorts.com.au/ (elephant) • http://www.hillmancurtis.com/index.php?/film/view/short_films/

25. Short Films • http://www.emilyhenricks.com/ • http://www.surfacefilm.com/ • Everything Turns: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p0056bjn • Life makes your head spin, and before you know it, it's over. A very short film about time, life and death. Inspired by DursGrünbein's poem Vertigo. • Snap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmxX2r-uD8I&feature=related • Ah Pook Is Here: Music from the album "William S. Burroughs - Dead City Radio" Track 4 - "Ah Pook The Destroyer / BrionGysin's All-Purpose Bedtime Story"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C5XuylNFLo • The Man with the Beautiful Eyes: Based on Charles Bukowski's poem, a group of children are attracted towards the dilapidated home of an outcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9WI9Zn0lRs • http://www.1stavemachine.com/#/home

26. Off limit topics • You are not allowed to create an “it was all a dream” scenario. In other words, something unfolds, then SURPRISE! It never really happened- it was a dream, an LSD trip, sudden amnesia and psychotic repression that kicked in after some horrible deed occurred etc. (as occurs in about half of the student projects every semester). • You are not allowed to have a car accident in your story. You MAY NOT have a student or actor step out into the street and suddenly get hit by a car (as occurs in 20 student projects every semester). • You may not shoot on campus (a regular rule) EXCEPT for the green screen space for obvious reasons (i.e. it’s there to be shot in). • You may not have a story based on boyfriend or girlfriend cheating on the protagonist, getting caught, then crying and stabbing or shooting away out of self-pity (as occurs in 23% of all student projects). • You may not have a character spending huge amounts of time looking at old photographs of them plus missing loved one (cheating loved one, dead loved one, etc.). (as occurs in 17% of all student projects). • You may only approach infidelity as a theme if you’ve read Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal and you think you can do better. (never been attempted in a student project). – • You may not have a ninja or a cop in your video. -If you are going to copy a video copilot tutorial (Yes, we can tell when you do), do not make it look worse then their end result. You are following step by step instructions it isn't that hard. • Your project cannot be about your pet, how cute it is or what it is thinking. • Your project cannot be a slasher / zombie film were the undead relentlessly and pointlessly stalk stalk you.

27. Ask yourself • Think about how your film will play to its audience • Does your story have a potentially universal appeal? • What will the audience know and when will they know it? • What will they be guessing? • What questions will they have which need answering? • And what can you show without having to explain things away?

28. Widescreen Test Pattern (16:9) Aspect Ratio Test (Should appear circular) 4x3 16x9

29. Iat 100 lecture 01 fin