Research 1.1

Research 1.1

Medium: Film

Main Product: Short film

Length: 10 minutes 

Why? 

I have chosen to create a short film for my final major project because I believe it will help me expand upon my filmmaking skills and become more confident in being the independent leader of my project while also collaborating with others. I also want to create a short film for this project as it will allow me to build upon my portfolio/showreel which is vital as I want to pursue a career in the film industry.

Inspiration: 

Filmmaker influences (style, tone, aesthetic)

- Luca Guadagnino 

 

Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name and We Are Who We Are are two huge influences for me as forms of film because they emulate raw stripped back reality. Guadagnino's style is intimate in exposing the characters thoughts and feelings, he creates this by holding long tracking shots, slow motioned shots and having music mirror the tone of the scenes. 

For my short film for this project I would like to mirror his style by experimenting with his movement using the camera and making complex character in attempt to creating an intense atmosphere using realism. 

- Gus Van Sant

 

Gus Van Sant's Elephant, My Own Private Idaho and Last Days are influential films for me because they depict the stories of broken warn down souls through visuals that wonder in and out of intimacy, and we as the audience almost become ghosts in the characters worlds and are reminded of our lack of control as a viewer. This lack of control Gus Van Sant creates I find to be hugely inspirational and would like to emulate that same atmosphere/tone in my short film for this project. 

To do this I will experiment with distant wide shots that capture characters through a small perspective, as this will allow the audience to feel as though they are observing the characters. I will also attempt to limit my use of dialogue and focus on 'showing' not 'telling' in my narrative, this will  be challenging but can help me improve upon my storytelling skills in terms of visuals. 

I would also like to draw from real-life stories as inspiration (which Gus Van Sant did in both Elephant and Last Days) as I feel it will help me capture more realism and can help ground me in terms of storytelling as I can always relate back to the reality/morals of the real inspirational source/narrative. 

Key ideas:

- A protagonist who consistently overthinks, the audience are thrown into the character's perspective and mind. In the end they result in meditating and finding connection with themselves in their isolated state. 

- Podcast with friend or family member discussing a certain theme. Include visuals that are animated/shot footage that represents the topics discussed in the podcast 

- Interview someone within film or music, create visuals and typography that visually express the topics and ideas spoken in the interview