My favourite directors

1. Ridley Scott-Alien (1979)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078748/

Ridley Scott is on of my favorite directors because he makes films that I like and watch. Alien is one of my favorite films because I am very into horror films and the way they can scare/make the audience react in a certain way to them. I think that it is very hard to make a good horror film with all of the films today like Saw. You cant tell because they all have to keep up with one another and no one really makes horror film like they used to, its all gorenographys today.

2. Edgor Wright-Shaun Of The Dead (2004)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365748/

The reason why I like Edgor Wright is because he makes comdeys with very good writers and plays with the conventions of eg. zombie or cop action films.

3.Alfred Hitchcock- Rear Window (1954)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/

I really like Alfred Hitchcock films and i would have to agree that he is the master of suspense. I think Rear Window is one of his best films he made. I love the idea that a man just watching his neighbours uncovers a man who has murdered his wife.

Short Story research

Gifts To The Dark Gods-Thriller

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/GiftDark857.shtml

This is the first story i looked at. This story is all about a woman, Helen, who is obsessed with stealing things. it isn't clear why but as the story progresses we learn that it might be because of OCD. We also learn that she is very skilled at stealing things and goes by a very specific set of rules, and if she doesn't do that then she starts to get panic attacks. All of the things she steals are 'Gifts to the dark gods' in her mind. It is very obvious that she has some sort of disorder and it is interesting to learn what happens to her if she doesn't steal things.

The reason i was drawn to this story is because it is a very interesting idea, its not just a woman stealing things, she has to steal things (in her mind) to stop her from having wild panic attacks. And it shows the length that she is willing to go just to steal something.

There's a Man in the Habit of Hitting Me on the Head with an Umbrella-Comedy

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/TherMan.shtml

This is a very strange story, as the title says it is a man who hits another man all day everyday over the head with an umbrella. This is obviously a comedy but it is very interesting to see how the man reacts to it. At first he finds the man very annoying and wants him to stop. Like he used to keep him awake at night but at the end of the story he talks about how he has an awful feeling that if the man does leave then he wouldn't be able to live without him. This is an example of binary opposites about his feelings at the beginning and end of the story.

I was drawn to this story because i thought just like the short film 'Blackhole' this is very surreal. And it also shows us that at the end how the man worries that he wont be able to live without this man hitting him. 

An Uncomfortable Bed-Comedy

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/UncoBed829.shtml

This story is about a man who throughout the day suspects that his friends have invited him on a trip only to play a practical joke on him. In the end they do. This story shows his suspicions and anxieties about his friends very well and almost comically about just how paranoid he is about them.

I put this story on my blog i thought this would make a very funny short film. And also i think that the way that this boy feels is very normal for someone.

The underlying reason why i chose these stories for my blog is because i was interested in all of the and wanted to find out the ending. And also while i was reading them i was playing over in my head how it could be shot and made into a short film.

What is an Auteur?

An Auteur is when a particular film maker has his/her own style of film making. You can see this with directors such as Tim Burton, Alfred Hitchcock and Quentin Tarantino. They have their own ways and styles of filming their films.

There are frequently very similar themes and styles in their films.

Short film research

This is a short film i found and is a very good example of binary opposites. Instead of man fishing for the fish, the fish is fishing for man. The mise-en-scene of the short tells something about the nature of the film. If it was all bright and strong colours then it would be a very different film. Also from the low angles that it is shot is gives the audience the feel like we are watching him, like the fish is, and it makes the character feel more alone on the beach.




This short film is about a man who is reflecting on the good and bad times of his relationship. This short film is made up of all flashbacks the man is having then cross cuts back to the present day and his reaction to the memory. This is very clever because we build an idea of the couple in our minds about what the memories are of and why they happen. We are taken on a trip through the relationship and are made to sympathize with both characters depending on what happens in the flashbacks. But finally we are made to sympathize with the man because his girlfriend dumps him.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/ This is a website that I have gone through and looked at short stories similar to what we would like to achieve and just to brainstorm some ideas on what we would like to do.

Short films: Lucky

I think one of the best things about this short film is how it builds suspense. At the beginning when he is in the trunk, you cant hear anything. And as his knowledge about where he is builds, so does ours. The when he is out of the boot of the car it is a fast pace action film. The camera keeps up with this because it is probably hand held which makes it seem more frantic.

With the narrative of this short it could be from a feature film. With the questions like who put him in the boot answered. That is what makes this short so good because it works very well as a short film and it could be from a feature film. The narrative is so simple, man wakes up in moving car, climbs into the car and then stops it, then car explodes. It gives the viewer a rounded beginning, middle and end.

French new wave cinema

French New Wave cinema came from the influence in the 1950's and 60's by Italian neorealism and Hollywood cinema at the time. In French New Wave they experimented with different editing techniques narrative and the style the film was shot in.



For example in Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard things like just taking your camera out onto the streets and filming was a revolutionary way of filming. Usually all the films were filmed in studios with sets made for the film and lighting. But this way of filming was brand new and had never been done before.

Film Noir

Film Noir was a name for typical crime dramas that were very popular in the 1940's and 50's. The way the film was shot and the style is what gives it the name film noir. They focused on being stylish by using mainly low key lighting and playing with peoples shadows. The films focused on the 'underground' of city life and had conventional characters like the detective and femme fetal characters.

Here is an example of Film Noir

Avant-garde

Avant-garde films were know for the experimental techniques used in the films. They were very different from mainstream cinema. Dogme and Fench New Wave could be called Avant-garde because of there unusual styles and how they differ from Hollywood cinema.

Cinéma vérité

Cinéma vérité or truthful cinema is very similar to documentary or Dogme. The reason its called 'truthful' is because the film maker wants to get across the realism of the film. This means they might just use natural lighting, hand held cameras, no effects to make the film look glossy and perfect. They want the audience to see it like they see everyday. This is a very clever way of getting the audience more involved in the film becuase when the conditions are more real it is easier to empathize with characters and relate to the film.

Here is an example of Cinéma Vérité