Ellen Cooper Film Studies

Evaluation   For my coursework I  wrote  a script and  did a  digital storyboard about two friends who were in love with the same man, and the way that the one marrying him finds out. I think that my actual script was good and although at times I had to make some big changes to it I liked the overall story that I got to at the end. I tried to give all the characters development, but this is difficult to achieve in a 10-minute film as there isn’t time to get to into the stories of each character. I also think that my script should have included a lot more description rather than having so much dialogue as this could have given the film a bit more depth and helped with the actual pacing of the film. It also would have shown a lot more about the characters and settings than my script did at the end.   I tried to use some of the key features of the short films that we watched as most of them were very good and therefore helpful towards creating a ...

INT. bedroom, morning Clothes lay scattered over the floor of a busy room being trampled by a group of women who are rushing around, giggling with one another. A woman, AVA HALL, sits as the back staring blankly into the mirror in front of her, as someone plays with her hair. The door next to her slightly open, and holding up a long white dress. AVA carelessly knocks a bottle of perfume onto the floor, and watches the others panic over it, laughing to herself, as they fight to be the one to give it back to her. CHARLOTTE WILSON shoves it back onto the dresser, rolling her eyes at the girls beside her. CHARLOTTE (annoyed) You have to be more careful!I swear you don't give a shit about anything. AVA It was an accident! God, you're being so over dramatic today. AVA HALL flicks her hair and walks away to the bathroom, AMELIA ADAMS and EMMA EVANS trailing behind her carrying the dress. AVA quickly pulls it on, as the other two fuss about it being...

INT. bedroom, morning Clothes lay scattered over the floor of a busy room being trampled by a group of women who are rushing around, giggling with one another. A woman, AVA HALL, sits as the back staring blankly into the mirror in front of her, as someone plays with her hair. The door next to her slightly open, and holding up a long white dress. AVA carelessly knocks a bottle of perfume onto the floor, and watches the others panic over it, laughing to herself, as they fight to be the one to give it back to her. CHARLOTTE WILSON shoves it back onto the dresser, rolling her eyes at the girls beside her. CHARLOTTE (annoyed) You have to be more careful!I swear you don't give a shit about anything. AVA It was an accident! God, you're being so over dramatic today. AVA HALL flicks her hair and walks away to the bathroom, AMELIA ADAMS and EMMA EVANS trailing behind her carrying the dress. AVA quickly pulls it on, as the other two fuss about it being...

Whilst getting ready for her wedding day, Ava gets into an argument with her best friend Charlotte. This causes her to reconsider her wedding, as she secretly knows that Charlotte has been sleeping with her fiance Liam, who Ava isn't sure that she wants to spend her life with. Hours later Ava runs into the garden, having left Liam at the alter. Charlotte swiftly follows her, now knowing that Ava knows. They argue over the fact the they both think that the other one thinks that that they are perfect, where they both know they are not. It flashes forward to two years later, where the police are investigating a crime. Liam comes to the house and the police show him Charlotte's dead body lying on the floor. Liam breaks down crying. The day before this we see Charlotte entering Ava's house. Ava is upstairs panicking and trying to hide herself away. She runs to the bathroom and is followed after by Charlotte who is following her through the house. Charlotte begins to bang...

A woman finds out that her best friend is sleeping with her fiance on her wedding day. But, when she is found dead years later the whole story comes into the light.

EXt. School 3 PM KATE, aged 7 runs across the playground dragging her bag across the floor, as the wind pushes her hair back. She zigzags through the crowd towards her MUM, things falling out of her pockets and bag as she goes. Her MUM just looks down at her phone holding tightly to the lead of the dog trying to jump up the girl. KATE speeds up as she sees the dog, nearly tripping over her untied shoes. She waves a leaf in her MUM's face as she takes her school bag from her quickly turning on her heel.  KATE quickly ties her shoes and chases after her shoving her stuff back into her pockets. KATE Mum! Wait for me! KATE grabs the lead of the dog and starts to walk. MUM is talking on the phone. KATE Do you know what we did today? It was so cool. We made paper mache volcanoes and we get to paint them tomorrow! MUM nods slightly whilst KATE skips along next to her, paying no attention to what is going on around her. KATE That girl Summer in my...

Adaptation of novel/short story - Lamb to the Slaughter: a Roald Dahl novel about a woman who kills her husband using a frozen leg of lamb, and then cooks and serves it to the police who come to investigate her husband's death. Is quite an unknown story to the younger audience so would still be shocking. News story - Hottest bank holiday weekend: could be the story of how a group of friends spent it. Historical event/ news story - A lady at home reading a letter from her husband at war, after he dies. Idea from a set text - From the operator: Paramedics talking about the man they just saved and other patients who didn't survive. Original idea - Two women who fell in love with the same man, fight over him, the end of their friendship - Police investigation into a missing kid

A short film is any film that isn't long enough to be considered a feature film. They are more personal than a feature film, expressing much more about the director than most feature films do as the director tends to have full control of the film including the script, cinematography and editing. They have to be a film within themselves, rather than seeming to be scenes from a longer film. Normally, short films are made by independent filmmakers, not looking to make a big profit, and they usually have no budget or very little budget available. They are used by filmmakers to show their talent in order to be able to get funding to make feature length films, hopefully with film studios in able to show their skill to a bigger audience.

Narrative: - A get away driver gets annoyed with a fly whilst waiting for people to rob a bank. Genre: - Dark comedy Representation: - Gangs, overly violent, thoughtless actions Audience: - Get annoyed as well due to the annoying noises that comes with the fly. Micro Elements: - Close ups on the mans expressions - Close ups on the fly on the windscreen of the car - Camera follows his actions - Only quick shots of the bank compared to the car, shows that it isn't important

Narrative: - Boys tell the story of a gang attack that happened in the restaurant where they are eating. - A kid who was stabbed by the gang goes to the restaurant for safety, which is the inciting incident. - The owner and the workers fight the gang to try and protect the kid. - The boy eating tells his friend that the gang was turned into burgers, but later admits that he was lying about it. - The owner then hints that this was actually the truth. Genre: - Social realism - Based on a true story - Set in a familiar setting to help people relate. - Relatable characters, a lot of them are young lads - References toward the random attacks against young people and minorities. - Alley setting is expected for these types of films. - Has a hint of dark comedy in the telling of the story by the way that the boys tell the story. Representation: - Gangs, violence and unexpected attacks. - Young guys, over enthusiastic, gullible and naive. - Ethnic minorities, violent, attacks...

Narrative: - Emergency call centre - A call from a woman whose son is stuck in their house which is on fire. - Operator tries to calm the woman and her son, and instruct them on how to keep safe and what to do. - Intensity rises as the film goes along. - Linear narrative told through the dialogue. Genre: - Drama - Real life - Suspense Representation: - Call centres, calmness, hard working, focused. - Mother, risks her life for her son, panicky - We expect it to be more focused on firemen and family rather than it only showing the operator. - London fire brigade, shows thanks to them in the credits. Audience: - We panic in the moment where she goes upstairs as it is a life or death situation. - Aligned with the operator as she is the only one we can see, and we are put in her place due to being able to hear the call. - We are being told a story as we can only imagine the action. - It feels like you have watched more than you actually have as you imagine what is hap...

Narrative: - Boys waiting for their mate to come out of his house. - Chatting about black history, but it is fake facts made up by their friend. - Inciting incident, the man walking past in the t shirt, then the man walking past in the jeans. - Circular narrative Genre: - Light comedy - Casual conversation between friends. Representation: - Young people being violent and loitering. - Talks about white women acting black and mixed race children. - Gender stereotypes, men talking about sex. - Potentially the directors community. Audience: - Feel like you are waiting with them for their friend. - Feel bored at the beginning like they are. - People watching like they are. Micro Elements: - Music, mix of those from different communities. - Establishing shots of the town. - Tracking shot of man walking, follows his legs. - Camera is constantly moving, showing how impatient they are. - Font copies Spike Lee, representing their community. - Mainly focuses on the 3 bo...

Narrative: - Girl gets a call to tell her that her that her dad was in an accident. - Gets someone to pay for a taxi for her to get to the hospital. - Gets the taxi to pull over and keeps the money for herself. - Fakes that her dad keeps getting into accidents. - Copying her reaction from when her dad actually died. - Linear - Circular, repeated call. - Echo represents the call happening over again. Genre: - True story/real life - Local setting - Natural acting - May not be fully true. Representation: - Young girl, confused and needs help. - Mum, stressed and bossy - Brother, caring - Kids are untrustworthy - Grief, depression and PTSD - Isolation of herself, smoking Audience: - Restricted hearing, can only see her reaction. - Want to know the whole story of what happened - Privileged viewing, see what happens after the people help her. - Feel distanced from her as she doesn't let us know the whole story. Micro Elements: - Long shot - Natural lightin...

Narrative: - A women sits in a cafe and contemplates whether or not she is going to keep her baby, whilst she is waiting for her lover to come and meet her. Genre: - Real life - Monologue - Drama Representation: - The worry of single parenting. - Women's rights to own their own bodies. - Abortion Audience: - Connected with her as we are opposite her. - Inside her head - Aligned with her - Personal connection as she is telling us all her problems. Micro Elements: - Slow zoom - Wearing white against the dark background, helps her to stand out - Theatrical lighting I enjoyed the simplicity of this film as I thought that it made it leave a big impact.

Narrative: - Boy putting makeup on - Boxer who hides who he really is - Saves his friend who was being beaten up whilst wearing makeup and a dress. - Tells his friend about everything - Goes in makeup and a dress to a party. - Friend tries to kiss him - Outed in front of everyone he knows Genre: - Drama Representation: - Struggle with identity - Acceptance - The importance/loss of friendships - Masculinity, struggle Audience: - Connected with him, see every side of his life. - Feel worried with him as there is a beating sound to represent his heart, so we know how quick it is beating. Micro Elements: - Close up on makeup - Over the shoulder mirror view - Cut to boxing - Music starts when he gets the makeup - In dress boxing - Red light to signify danger - Music adds to the awkwardness - Punch at the end - Stud sign in bathroom - High angle on the friend I think that this short film has a good impact, and wouldn't have worked as a longer film.

Narrative: - Follows the police investigation of a crime. - True life story of a man falling from a plane flying over London, as he had hidden in the landing gear and fell out when it was deployed. - Doesn't follow a linear narrative, almost tells the story in reverse. Genre: - Crime: hardly any dialogue, shows the clues, focuses on the police, close ups of blood. Representation: - Takes place in an average English village, this makes up believe that this is going to be about an ordinary crime, and therefore we do not expect the man to fall. - Lays flowers at the scene of the crime, symbolises death, hints at what has happened. - Young looking clothing, hints towards the idea of a robbery due to this being the sort of clothes our idea of a stereotypical robber would wear. Audience: - On looking the police investigation, makes it feel more like a story, we don't get any important information. - Slow paced, this builds tension and makes it seem like a dull crime, w...

Cinema or DVD? Although I tend to watch most films on DVD, I prefer going to the cinema. The atmosphere is better and it means I can see the newest films out, rather than having to wait for them to come out. I also like the fact that no one can talk, as my family have a habit of talking the whole way through films. I do like watching DVDs though, as it means you can watch older films, and its more relaxed. Viewing technology? I tend to watch films on my TV or my laptop, due to the fact that at home I prefer to use a bigger screen. On the go I use my phone to watch films as it is a lot easier to do that than take your laptop out with you. Either way these devices tend to have good quality for films, and therefore make your viewing experience more enjoyable. Favourite film of all time? I'd probably have to go with Guardians of the Galaxy, just because I loved it and it's a film that I watch a lot. I also loved the humour that it added to Marvel movies, that many other M...