For this week’s tasks, we were challenged with generating three ideas that we could use for our ‘What If?’ Project. In order to help me formulate and expand my ideas, I created several mind maps to allow me to question my ideas. I decided that I needed to think carefully about the components needed in my film and ensure that I had a strong story structure. To display this clearly on my mind maps, I used the questions, What?, Why?, Where?, When?, Who?, and How?. This allowed me to thoroughly challenge my idea in depth and ensure that I had filled any gaps in the narrative.
After doing this, I completed a Swot Analysis on my three ideas – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. I questioned each of these components as this allowed me to understand which ideas were the strongest, and which were not. For the Weaknesses and Threats sections, I tried to think of ways to overcome any issues that I might face when trying to bring my idea to life. I found this exercise very helpful as it allowed me to clearly understand the narratives of all my ideas, the meanings behind them, and which one would be the most effective to create and have the most impact.
To help with formulating our ideas further, we were tasked to watch several short films and carefully pick apart each scene and the meaning behind them. A film that we particularly focussed on was ‘RUN!’. This one-minute horror film portrayed the narrative of a man being followed by a mysterious creature, whilst going for a run. This simple, yet effective narrative was successful in creating suspense and mystery for the viewer. After watching the film several times, I began to understand the creative choices that had gone into creating such an intense film. A particular technical method that stood out to me was the choice to have an unsteady camera as the film developed and the characters fears heightened. This helped in conveying the characters emotions to the viewer, and also increased the viewers suspense.
Overall, I have found the tasks this week very helpful in generating and forming a story idea for my short film. I will continue to use research and planning methods to ensure that I have a detailed and in depth narrative to create.
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