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Narrowed down from three basic 'loglines', I chose one by pitching them to others and asking which had the most promise:

The Passion - A sex worker discovers he/she is the second coming of Christ, nobody believes them

This is Not a Film - A wannabe surrealist preoccupied with the past struggles to retrofit the style to modern day.

Sucker - Buddy duo concoct a shady hustle filming and uploading hoax fight videos featuring local businesses and failing influencers

Sucker was decidedly the best, and so I proceeded with it.

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I'm unsure of the aesthetic approach I'll take

Original concept means original script at least for the filmed scene

My biggest weakness is proficiency with filming equipment, which I intend to improve on through this process

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mid-00s mid-budget comedy (see inspirations)

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Movies to revise on:

Wayne's World

Superbad

Pineapple Express

Booksmart

Kevin and Perry

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1 male lead, 1 female lead (for the sake of balance)

Dylan - Meek, quiet, 'brains' behind the operation, logical, 'left-brained'

Grace - Risk-taker, evil genius, director of projects, charismatic, ambitious

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PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news

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Fake anti-LGBTQ+ content created by a "comedian" is sweeping social media and spreading disinformation, with lawmaker Majorie Taylor Greene proudly supporting the hoax.

Content creator Jibrizy, who claims on X (formerly Twitter) to be directing "social political video as real-life scenarios of the left and right for debate", has seen part of his six-minute sketch fool social media users into an anti-LGBTQ+ frenzy.

In a clearly staged and not exactly Oscar-winning skit video called "Mother tears down Pride flag", a mum rips down a flag covering a map of America in a classroom and asks the teacher why she's wasting money on LGBTQ+ representation.

"This needs to go exactly where it is. In the garbage... I'm teaching my son to grow up to be a man and I don't want you hanging up a flag and teaching them the type of stuff I'm trying to keep them away from," the mum in the sketch says.

Only at the end of the full video does Jibrizy announce: "Hey guys, this was all a skit," before asking people to comment.

But the full video clearly wasn't watched by most, with comments on Facebook seeming to take it as a real incident.

Many comments said the mother is right, claiming that teachers should "stop trying to indoctrinate and groom" kids.

On X, a cut version of the bogus sketch was reposted by Republican congresswoman Greene, who wrote: "God bless this mama. I stand with her. Teachers are paid by taxpayers - the parents. Get the LGBTQ propaganda out of schools."

GOD BLESS THIS MAMA!!!!!

I stand with her!!! 💪

Teachers are paid by taxpayers - the PARENTS!!!

Get the LGBTQ propaganda out of the schools!
pic.twitter.com/HmdjPhDgkr
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) September 18, 2023

Greene, who in May said a lesbian stepmum is not a "real mother", realised only after her post that the video wasn't real, and commented: "If this is a fake or a skit, it's a very good representation of exactly how people feel."

The video remains on X and has a context alert that reveals it's scripted.

Some social media users have criticised Jibrizy, with one person on Facebook saying it was "a stupid tactic to take".

Another person pointed out: "This video is shared in phobic countries under the name LGBT in America.

"This is obviously staged total b******t, designed to trigger people."

Another Facebook comment reads: "Why does anybody watch this s**t," while a separate person accused Jibrizy of selling his "soul [for] easy views".

Trans journalist Erin Reed said Jibrizy was "interaction farming", accusing them of spreading disinformation.

I'm not posting a link to the videos because I don't want to help them spread their interaction farming.

But this is the kind of disinfo anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-trans accounts are spreading.
- Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) September 18, 2023

In another video, Jibrizy again plays on anti-LGBTQ+ views held by some, in a sketch called Trans daughter comes out to parents.

The five-minute clip attempts to demean trans people and pronouns by asking the person coming out: "Who is influencing you?" Again, only at the end does Jibrizy announce that that "this is all a skit".

PinkNews has contacted Twitter and Jibrizy for comment.

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Thousands view fake anti-LGBTQ+ skits made by so-called comedian on social media

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Lawmaker Majorie Taylor Greene has shared staged anti-LGBTQ+ content created by a 'comedian' to spread disinformation.

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A staged video of two women fighting over the presence of a 'baby' (it is obviously a doll) on a plane

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Dylan and Grace's hustle has been outed by an online sleuth. They now must reckon with the aftermath and what it means for their relationship.

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The Old Fire Station Café

47 Albion Pl

Crescent

Salford M5 4NL

Did not get permission :'-(

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Male early 20s - any race

Female early 20s - any race

Male early 20s - any race

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The scene contains a lot of shot-reverse-shot. In filming these shots the 180 degree rule must be adhered to.

"The camera faces objects or performers from one direction along 180 degrees. As long as the camera stays facing that direction and doesn’t switch to the opposite side of that imaginary line, the actors and objects will face the proper screen direction. If you cross the line, then the characters and objects will face the wrong screen direction. By maintaining this rule, you maintain continuity in the edit and maintain consistent screen direction in the geometrical layout of the scene." (Lancaster, 2019)

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Cohn, L.M. (2021). Directing actors: a practical aesthetics approach. Routledge.

Crisp, M. (1997). Directing Single Camera Drama. Taylor & Francis Group.

Irving, D. K., & Rea, P.W. (2013). Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video. Taylor & Francis Group.

Rabiger, M., & Hurbis-Cherrier, M. (2013). Directing: Film Techniques and Aesthetics. Taylor & Francis Group.

Lancaster, K. (2019). Basic Cinematography: A Creative Guide to Visual Storytelling. Taylor & Francis Group.

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The original proof of concept for Sucker was a filmed scene comprised of three characters: Dylan, Grace and a prospective customer. After two actors became unavailable and one was replaced (Grace) I wrote up a new script.

Putting a lot of effort into pre-production naturally equips a director with everything he/she needs not only to shoot a good project but to ensure the shoot goes as smoothly and efficiently as possible. With this in mind I made sure to give pre-production as much attention as I could, particularly the aspects pertaining to co-ordination of the shoot. I made sure to have a clear and concrete shot list and schedule, drawing mainly on the storyboard to do so, so that we wouldn't spend any precious time on set doing even further planning. The storyboard was a particularly useful starting point, as it helped "clear the mind when deciding exactly what it is the audience needs to see." (Crisp, 1997) Once we were shooting I knew exactly everything we needed to do and when.

I accrued cast and crew about a week in advance, consisting then of myself, three actors, a production assistant and a boom operator. Before the shoot I held a rehearsal on teams so that the actors knew what I wanted out of their characters. A script can be interpreted in so many ways before it has been acted out, so this was extremely valuable. The actors' initial reading of the script naturally didn't completely align with the mood I was intending and the subtext of the scene, and the rehearsal allowed me to redirect them and get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. An important part of directing actors is a collaborative spirit. Without prescriptively telling them what to do or demonstrating how to deliver their lines, one has to work with them to get the best version of the script. (Cohn, 2021, p. 104)

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Regardless of how prepared I would be, since we were shooting outdoors there were always going to be factors out of my control. The most challenging of these was making the most of daylight, which is why in my original shooting schedule I included a 'spare' day reserved for reshoots if necessary, as filming after sunset would be extremely problematic for continuity given that the scene takes place over just a few minutes in the middle of the day. However after some hitches in pre-production we were running short on time and would have to film in one day. This meant that efficiency was paramount.

Due to my boom operator becoming unavailable very close to shooting, I had to assume the roles of lighting, sound and camera all myself. While having to split my attention between three important roles (particularly sound and camera) definitely compromised my abilities I feel that I did the best I could given the circumstances and that the simplicity of the scene meant I could get away with it.

I referred zealously to the storyboard and shot list to keep the shoot operating smoothly. ("To accomplish the day’s work, the set must be run like a military operation." (Irving & Rea, 2013))Shooting in a non-linear fashion was also essential in keeping things moving, as I spend any more time than necessary framing and moving equipment. As well as this I used the continuity log sheet to help me sort through the footage later. I ticked off each shot on the storyboard as we progressed, giving me a good idea of where we were at.

I gave continuous feedback and guidance to actors as we went to ensure the script came to life properly.

I used the BlackMagic 6k pro and three lenses of varying lengths for camera, a single Aputure LED and a reflector kit for lighting, and a Rode ntg-2 microphone with a Zoom H8 recorder for sound.

Overall the shoot was successful. We wrapped before sunset and I came away happy with the footage I had.

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Editing the footage was relatively simple. the scene didn't require any special effects beyond colour grading so my work came down to simply stitching the footage together, colour grading and adjusting the sound mix. Due to traffic, another peril of an outdoor shoot, the raw sound footage had wildly varying 'signal-to-noise' ratios (Rabiger & Hurbis-Cherrier, 2013), which I did my best to fix using noise reduction on Adobe Premiere and normalising all the audio clips. At times I had to do some cropping and zooming that looked more awkward than I'd like for continuity reasons.

I made sure to keep a backup of all the footage and the adobe premiere project file on a hard drive (also essential for working on different devices), and went through each file naming them all after their respective shots and takes so that I would not have to repeatedly sift through all of the footage looking for the right file.

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Better continuity

Several shots in the final edit do not flow seamlessly into one another, despite my best efforts. In the future I would keep a much closer eye on these things while on set to save me from having to make awkward cuts/crops to accommodate for continuity errors.

Start much earlier

A lot of what went wrong in pre-production could have been rectified had I more time leading up to the shoot. I made things more difficult for myself by leaving it so long to get the wheels really turning.

Review footage and allow for reshoots

A lot of footage I wrote down in the log sheet as being of high quality did not play as well when I watched them afterwards. Had I been able to schedule time for reshoots I would have been able to improve on the footage I was dissatisfied with.