Pre-production Stage
The first film im making needs to have elements of something personal to the theme and must be set in one location. To start my pre production phase i decided to mind map ideas
I decided to land on the location of a park and will include a voiceover in the post production edit to represent the main character's inner monologue, this voiceover will involve elements of humorous relatability which can help with the personal theme. I will also consider the music/song choices to hold something personal to me as well in some way or another.
Synopsis
Marty clocks out for his five minute shift from pizza shop shift, he decides to sit at a park bench to eat his lunch. During this break, we will hear the inner monologue inside his head commentating on the environment around him. At the end of his break he puts headphones on and walks back to work to continue the rest of his shift.
Shot list
Rough Script
Change of Plan
As the shooting day for 'Breaktime' came closer i began to realise that i wasn't happy with how quickly the tone and genre changes in the script with little to no hints that it would go in that direction. Originally I decided that I would either commit to the more comedic side of the film or the more mature/meaningful side of the film but in the end i knew it would just be best to start from scratch on a film i knew i would be more passionate and confident about.
I decided to make an action film with a 2-3 minute choreographed fight scene as this is something i hadn't explored yet and wanted to explore my potential in this area. I also paired up with another student to co-direct each others films as it was convenient due to being actors in each others films anyway, this ended up working very well as we had twice as many ideas which allowed me to have a much more open mind when it came to choreography, shot types, dialogue and even editing ideas compared to the ideas i would have directing alone.
Synopsis
Joel enters an 'abandoned university' during post apocalyptic times to search for supplies, he enters a a classroom with bags left on the desk which he begins to search through until he notices the door open beside him. Joel instantly ready's his handgun and points it towards the noise, a man in a Spiderman costume stands there with his hands up to which Joel begins to question him. Tension builds as some cheap jokes are made at each other's expense until they approach each other for intimidation, they continue to slander each other until Spider-Man resorts to violence and uppercuts Joel. They fight for a minute or so until Spiderman cant handle it and passes out on the floor, Joel walks away leaving him there until Spiderman begins to rise again and knocks Joel out with one punch. Spiderman finishes the job and shoots him in the face, he puts the gun in Joel's hand and leaves the room.
Logline
Two unexpected characters face off for the showdown of a lifetime.
One location and theme
For this assignment I was asked to only use only one location to film in (up to my interpretation) to which i decided to go with the Winter Gardens building in Weston due to it's feasibility as i was in university there that day anyway and also due to the fact i hadn't filmed there before so wanted to explore it as a filming location.
I was also asked to include a theme of something personal to me in this film which can be reflected through any way I like to an extent. I decided that the personal theme to me would be represented through the embodied human spirit of Spiderman who has been something of an inspiration to me growing up to always keep pushing through no matter how hard things get. This was represented at the end of the film when Spiderman takes a serious beating but still manages to get up and finish the fight.
Final Script
Budget
Spider-man costume - £36.99
Fake gun - £19.99
Fake knives - £4.99
Green shirt - £15.00
Blue jeans - £15.00
Knife holsters - £5.00
Backpack - £25.00
Boots - £30.00
Knee pads - £10.00
Contextual analysis
The two characters in this film originate from 2 popular franchises 'The Last of Us' and 'Spider-Man' which have both increased in popularity vastly of the last year or so with 'Spider-Man No Way Home' coming out in December 2021 and a 'The Last of us' TV series airing on HBO in January 2023. Seeing these two characters come together was something most fans wouldn't expect but due to the popularity in 'Crossover episodes' increasing over the years with characters from different shows/films appearing together it has become something much more welcomed by fans. Examples of crossover episodes include an episode of 'Family guy x The Simpsons' all the way to the 'Freddy v Jason' movie. This trend became increasingly popular when the Marvel Cinematic Universe was established where all of the movies and tv shows made will share the same Universe and so characters can interact with one another in any piece of media produced which allows for much more freedom and gives the fans an incentive to watch.
A Crossover Episode
'London Brawling' Rocket jump 2015
The choreography in this film was inspired from a youtube channel called 'Rocket Jump' who made light hearted action/comedy short films around 2010, the fighting style in these films were very cartoonish, over expressed and fast paced. When i originally filmed the choreography it was much slower than i anticipated and so i decided to speed up most of the shots by around 200-300% which created more of an unrealistic video game sort of style which i really liked and thought suited the idea i had well. When i was looking at music i could use for this film i remembered a scene from 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' which was a brutal action scene using the song 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd, i decided to try that song as music for this fight sequence and it fit perfectly for this kind of fight scene. As i wanted to go with a more video game fighting style i decided i would use audio samples from fighting games for the fighting sounds.
Permission form
Production Stage
This phase of the project felt very improvised as i didn't make a shot list or rough plan of how i wanted the film to look so i had to make lots of quick decisions on shoot, however this wasn't so bad as we were able to work with the environment more for choreography and weren't restricted by a plan.
BTS Photos
Kit list
Sony FX3
RODE Shotgun mic
Headphones
Post-Production Stage
When i came to begin editing i noticed that the sound hadn't come through from the footage we recorded which initially became a problem due to the use of dialogue in my film. I decided to look at some work arounds in the editing stage.
My first idea was to use voice over bots with subtitling for more of a comedic approach but this ended up nearly ruining the comedy from those lines due to the robot voice being completely monotone and boring to listen to.
Something else i tried was using 'Animal Crossing' talking noises due to the fact that these noises have no actual meaning to us and so it allowed me to create a talking effect when combined with subtitling. Although this effect came across relatively well, i felt as though it was too distracting for the dialogue.
In the end i decided i would just use subtitling for the dialogue scene.
Final edit
Evaluation
Given that the film was improvised and didn't have any planning, I think i did a good job with what i had. The fight scenes were well executed and the actors did a good job of conveying their characters' emotions and motivations.
That being said, there were some areas where the lack of planning and preparation was noticeable. The pacing felt a bit off at times, and it felt like the set up seemed to drag on for too long. Additionally, the lack of planning meant that there was little character development or backstory to help the audience understand why Spiderman and Joel were fighting. This made it harder to become invested in the conflict and the characters. The lighting and sound quality could have been improved with more time and crew dedicated to production. Similarly, the camera work could have benefited from more thought and experimentation in order to create more engaging visuals. Despite these limitations, my improvised short film still had some strengths. The fight scenes were well-executed, and the story itself was intriguing and had potential for further development.
Unfortunately due to some technical difficulties, the sound for this film didn't record. The lack of authentic sound in my film meant that i had to find sounds online/use different techniques for dialogue. This wasn't much of a problem when it came to the quieter scenes and fighting scenes as i could add music and sound effects which worked really well in the end as i had used them in good timing with the action, however it meant that there was no sound for my dialogue to which i decided on adding subtitles as a last minute decision. In the future i will be sure to check my equipment before any shoot to ensure there is no problems. One of the issues i found when filming the first scene of Joel entering the building was seeing how poorly and unrealistic it looked when using the camera handheld. If i were to use a tripod it would make the film look much more professional and would be much less distracting, the third shot of this film is a good example of this. I also believe that when Joel first enters the classroom, this shot drags on for too long and could've have used other shots to help create a much more interesting scene visually.
The first shot of this short film is slightly overexposed and the cameraman can be seen in the reflection of the window. in the future i will be more aware when filming outside and look out more when dealing with windows/mirrors in shot.
There is a slight but noticeable continuity error at the start of the fight scene which shows the time on the board being at 13:41 but then quickly changing one shot later to 13:54, in the future i will need to recognise small details like these in my shots in order to save breaking continuity. Luckily it's not as noticeable as the reflection from the first shot due to viewers keeping focus on the fight itself.
Another continuity error occurs during the fight scene where 'Spider-man' throws 'Joel' onto a desk and is positioned very close to the table but in the next shot 'Spider-man' is much further back creating a very noticeable break in the flow of the fight. In the future i will need to consider positioning more between actors to ensure no immersion is broken.
