that we are making short films which I was very excited to hear because one of our previous

modules was to create our own interpretation of the first scene from Scream and I loved

learning new production skills. However, there was already a script and a story there, this module

we get to create our own storylines and write our own scripts which I am very excited about. I think

that this module will give a lot of room for creativity and will be exciting as I have never created a short film from scratch

before! Watching some short films during the lesson such as Doodlebug helped me to get an idea of what kind of a story we can create for our

short film. In this module I have been thinking that I may want to be cinematographer as I have not done it before but would love

the opportunity to try. My only concern is that may not be very good at it, but I would love to try!

Going further into the clown theme, we came up with other ideas such as, a clown in a non-clown world, living as an ordinary man and masking who he really is. However, gradually he comes out of his shell, clowning up more and more and by the end he accepts who he is and goes full on clown mode. Once again, just another brainstormed idea, but staying with the clown theme. We then thought of a brief character description for him and thought he would should have a very ordinary middle-aged man name; we settled on Tony who is rough looking, quite worn out kind and this lead to Tatty Tony. We thought he should still have makeup of a clown but quite washed out and sad looking, then wearing a suit and holding a bride case and we just follow him as he goes about his day. All of the ideas from todays lesson don't seem quite right for the film as none have properly stood out to us, but we are definitely going to keep with the clown theme. Over the time period between lessons I am going to think of a few clown themed ideas that could be used for our film.

Idea:

• Mischievous clown in circus already

• Starts taking his act outside of the circus

• Is it an act anymore?

• Has he taken his clowning too far?

• He then gets in big trouble outside the circus

  (have not thought of what could happen yet)

• Gets fired from the circus, looses his clown gear and becomes depressed

• Goes into a home for retired clowns

I am not sure where this idea came from and am not precious about it but just thought it would be a good to try and think of some ideas. This is my first time trying to think of an idea for a short film and I found it fun, however, I realised that as soon as I am put on the spot to think of ideas my mind goes blank. After a bit of thinking though it eventually came to me and became quite fun using my imagination to create a scenario of my choosing. I definitely want to improve my ability to think of ideas for short films and that's why I am excited for this module.

rough idea of the final idea for our film.

Rough storyline:

• Husband and wife are having their anniversary dinner. The Husband is ignoring The Wife and looking at his phone, however she seems very happy, almost excited.

• There is a knock at the door and The Husband ushers The Wife to get it without even looking up, but she has already gone in a very excited manner.

• The wife opens the door and brings into the room this clown and presents it to her husband almost like a gift.

• The Husband who is clearly scared of clowns is very annoyed with The Wife for bringing over this clown but she doesn't seem bothered at all. There is a very strange mood in the room from the presence of this clown.

• The Clown is being a nuisance and making clown jokes but not very well which is making the husband more and more worked up, The Wife on the other hand is laughing hysterically at every single thing he is doing.

• The Clown becomes slowly more sinister and eventually The Husband tried to stand up and the Clown puts his hand on his shoulders, sits him down and then pops a balloon above his head. The Husband's head then drops to the table.

• The Clown takes his wedding ring off his finger and puts it on his own, pushed the guy off his seat and takes his place. He then takes a glass of champagne and cheers with The Wife.

• Camera pans around and The Wife has got a face full of clown makeup and cheers back with a wide grin on her face.

• There is then a wide shot and we see them finishing the dinner and the husband on the floor while they have dinner.

I love this idea and am really happy with the place we are at currently. I have do have an image in my head of what the film may look like but am so excited to see how all of our ideas merge together to create something maybe totally different from what it was at the beginning. As within just a week the idea as changed so much, however, I think this is a solid draft of the final idea.

that we want our film to be an almost completely non-verbal short film as we want to create an off-beat, non-naturalistic feel to it. None of the characters really need to be named as there won't be much dialogue so also adding to the non-naturalistic feel we want.

The Wife:

• dressed in red dress

• silky dark brown hair, curled

• red lipstick, glittery eyeshadow, gold jewellery

• very glamorous, smiley and overly happy

The Husband:

• wearing creased white shirt, expensive watch, expensive phone

• seems like he is well off but looks rough at the moment

• obnoxious, obsessed with phone, ignoring wife

  
  

The Clown:

• quite creepy clown makeup

• maybe tall and skinny

• sort of old fashioned clown costume

• The director has the role of communicating their creative vision, marking up scripts/storyboarding and working with actors both on and off set.

• The producer has the role of organizing the work flow and schedules, resourcing (securing locations, release forms, health and safety checks, financing, equipment etc) and budgeting.

  
  

At points during the process their roles may overlap, however, primarily these are the responsibilities of the director and producer. The main thing that differentiates.

One director I really like is Tim Burton. I love his quirky and obscure ideas and I think the way he presents these stories is very creative and engaging to watch. He also has done a variety of different kinds of films ranging from stop motion such as Frankenweenie to live action films such as Alice Through the Looking Glass. This creepy style that Tim Burton follows in his movies is something that correlates to themes in our short film as we are trying to achieve something that is quirky and a bit off-beat.

I am really glad that at this point in the process we already have three possible locations we could use. The most ideal would probably be Em's house as it is in Salford so would mean less of a travel. However, I don't think travel will be that problematic as we can spilt ubers if needs be. One issue with my sister's house is that they don't have a dining table so we would have to try find one which would be difficult to find and also get to her house.

I am slightly worried that production may go off track a bit as we haven't had a whole group in a while and I don't think they know their roles or much about the story. We are just going to try keep them updated with what is happening until they get back and hopefully they will be here for filming.

I watched Better Call Saul and was looking at the scene when chuck hits his head, the close ups aren't stable and are quick cut shots of Chuck and the lights which are tinted giving the viewer a better insight into his delirious state. When he hits his head there a close up of the impact and a quick shot change to see him fall down. This gave me a shot idea as in our film we have the husband slam his head down on the table when the balloon pops, so I could use a similar shot of a close up and may rest the camera on the table and have a close up then quick change to The Wife and The Clown having a drink. I have now realized that once you start taking notice on different shots you never stop analyzing shots in anything you watch which is a blessing and curse, however, it is helping me broaden my shot ideas.

I feel a mixture of nervousness and excitement for filming. I am excited to get on the camera and start the practical element which isn't just storyboarding and shots lists. However, I'm not sure if some people in our group have been in enough to understand the story and mood we are going for which could mean they haven't done their pre production tasks for filming, meaning filming may not be as efficient.

I have also really enjoyed familiarizing myself with different shots through doing the shot lists as I knew what the shot I wanted looked like however was not sure of the technical name so couldn't write it on my shot list. I enjoyed doing my shot lists however I found it tedious at times but overall I liked getting a better understanding of different shots and camera angles.

Storyboarding has been difficult as I am not the best artist, however it did definitely help me a lot with visualization. I think in the future I would try doing my storyboarding before shot lists as while storyboarding I found a clearer image forming in my head of what the shots will look like, adding to my vision for the piece.

When completing floorplans I was pleasantly surprised because when I first looked at the software I had no idea what it was or how to use it. I have never really done any digital design apart from in secondary school but it was a different software and a long time ago. I started having a look at the different tools and understanding what I can use and how. Once I had a rough understanding I started recreating the room from memory from the visit and found it really fun and oddly satisfying.

When visualizing the character of The Clown it reminded me of another character which I couldn't put my finger on for ages. It then suddenly came to me. When I am visualize the scene of The Clown backing The Husband into his chair it reminds me of the scene in The Shining when Jack is backing Wendy up the stairs. I am thinking that I can take inspiration from those and show it from the perspective of both characters in the moment, however because this is the climax of the film will make the shot changes switch faster top create tension and suspense.

One problem I did face was with our sound. During filming our sound effects person accidentally forgot to record any of our audio on the second day and on the third day the mic didn't fit onto the boom pole so we ended up having no sound effects. However, we realised it was manageable as there is not really any audio, so we said she would be able to do them separately and send them over. We then didn't end up getting any of our sound effects so I spent a lot of time finding more online which was difficult for a few of them but manageable.