Researching Narrative (Plot)

I decided to research into narrative theory for fictional stories to benefit my knowledge, hoping to help construct my short film more successfully. I found general guidelines regarding the structure and content of fictional stories whilst researching, one of the most popular and accepted guidelines were established by Arthur Quiller-Couch, known as the seven basic plots, however were further developed by Christopher Booker in his book 'The Seven Basic Plots; Why We Tell Stories'.These theorists and authors suggested that nearly all fictional stories can fit in to these seven basic plots:

• Overcoming the Monster
• Rags to Riches
• The Quest
• Voyage and Return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth

For the reason that my short film is a documentation of a character, I decided not to base my storyline on a particular one of the seven basic plots, instead my plot would simply hint at two of the seven, comedy and tragedy. These two basic plots would be suitable for my short film as the meaning and experience I want to convey in my short film would fit in to both comedy and tragedy.

Investigating structure
Gustav Freytag considered that narrative could be divided a story into five part chronological structure. These different segments where the following:

• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Denouement

Having researched,  I decided to deliberately not follow Freytag's suggested narrative plot structure. Instead I would simply display the exposition of my character and some minor rising action. I decided to do this as it would help me achieve the dull and mundane exposure I am trying to display. By not having a climax, it could reflect the lack of ambition and how unexciting this kind of existence is, which is one of my main targets I am hoping to achieve in the end product.

Climax

"The point of climax is the turning point of the story, where the main character makes the single big decision that defines the outcome of the story and who he is as a person. The dramatic phase that Freytag called the "climax" is the third of the five phases and occupies the middle of the story. Thus "the climax" may refer to the point of climax or to the third phase of the drama."

Extract taken from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_(narrative)

The Story Line

My short film is the documentation of a fictional character's birthday, showcasing his lonely life style in a comedic way and the effects of living life this way. Majority of the scenes will be shot in my character's bedroom,  where he spends most of his time alone and doesn't often leave. By shooting most of the scenes in the bedroom it will reflect the character's lifestyle and emphasise the lonely life he chooses. He will also be the only character shown in the short film to add to this effect.

Here is the plot to my short film and what will happen:

The opening scene will show the main character waking up on his birthday. He stands up and takes his vitamins which are placed neatly on a cabinet beside his bed (The use of vitamins and supplements reflects his deteriorating health and growing anxiety issues). For both, comedy value and to insinuate realism the character will then use the toilet as any other human would, once they have woken. Simple quirks like this will portray the characters routine in a dull and unexciting way, however, also humour the audience, which is what I am aiming to do. The character then walks downstairs to check for post and there finds an envelope with his own name on it and then returns upstairs to his room to open the envelope. The envelope contains a birthday card from his mother. The character then proceeds to play his favourite vinyl record and his record player... as he does every day; I have not yet decided what music will be playing, however I know it will be something that could be considered to have negative or emotional connotations to fit with the style of the film and particularly the character. The character then sits on his bed just listening to music. I will have to find a way to portray the passing of time through camera shots, cutting and editing to do this, it will hopefully be achieved after experimentation with different techniques. After a small passing of time, the character then begins to draw/sketch an image of himself. I decided to show him drawing as it is often stereotyped that introverted individuals are often creative minded people. However, to further portray the life of the character, the drawing will be a portrait of himself with exaggerated and unflattering features, to show the anxieties and the little to non self confidence he has. As the character draws, his pencil snaps and he let's out a sigh to show disappointment. he then sharpens the pencil, but once again the pencil breaks and his time the character give out a groan of anger, showing how something so little can effect upon him and his mood heavily due to his overall misery. The camera will then show the man sat on his bed looking agitated.
The camera will then cut to later on in the day, showing the man in low light with only a candle placed upon his birthday cake lighting the room. The character then sings 'Happy Birthday' to himself in celebration of his birthday, This is the climax of the short film where it's truly shown how lonely and depressing the character's life is, as he blows out the candle leaving him in complete darkness.

Identifying Aims and Audiences

I am aiming to create a comedy/drama short film documenting the birthday of a lonely introverted man, named Tim. The inspiration was drawn from witnessing a friend live in an isolated and distant manner, believing this was the way in which an independent individual would live. However, after time, my friend did not find independence but rather loneliness and depression, spending most of his time alone in his room with minimum human contact. Despite my character being inspired by an actual person, the short film will be a sometimes fictional, light hearted take on the life of an introvert, with dry humorous dramatisations.

My target audience will be 16-30 year olds, as this is a common age in which dry humour is popular. Also, the deeper conceptual meaning requires a degree of life experience and knowledge to fully appreciate and understand the concept behind the film. Also the fact my character is going to be in his early 20's he might be more relatable to the target audience of 16-30 year olds, as he is within that age range. By creating a relatable character a good rapport can be developed between the audience and the character, which could lead to a more enjoyable short film and maybe a strengthened, more successful  effect.
Particular Socio economic groups can sometimes be the main target to appeal to for many short films and producers, However I believe Socio economics groups will have minimal relevance to the enjoyment of the short film, however due to the concept of the movie, the film may appeal more to audiences from C1 - A. This is due to the previously mentioned factor of knowledge, that could make the short film more understandable due to the underlying concept and meaning. The lower socio economic groups may not grasp or understand the concept properly or efficiently.

Here is a list of the socio economic groups for reference.

A- Higher managerial, administrative, professional e.g. Chief executive, senior civil servant, surgeon
B - Intermediate managerial, administrative, professional e.g. bank manager, teacher
C1- Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial e.g. shop floor supervisor, bank clerk, sales person
C2 - Skilled manual workers e.g. electrician, carpenter
D- Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers e.g. assembly line worker, refuse collector, messenger
E - Casual labourers, pensioners, unemployed e.g. pensoiners without private pensions and anyone living on basic benefits


A possible secondary target audience could be people who are involved or interested in social/cultural and also psychological aspects of life. My short film may appeal to this audience as it is the documentation of an individuals existence and how they live there life and their also position in society which could be of interest to this audience.

Influential imagery

Below are some images that I believe are both aesthetically pleasing and conceptually intriguing. These images consist of screenshots from movie scene and music video's and photographs taken by street photographers, documenting every day life. Screen shots of Wes Anderson's 'The Royal Tenenbaums', Battles 'ice cream' and Keaton Henson 'Lying to You' music video and photographs by Matt Stuart are seen below.

Inspirations Behind My Short Film

Wes Anderson
One major inspiration to me is the work of Wes Anderson, an American film director, screen writer and producer. Anderson has gathered a cult following among the underground with classics like 'Bottle Rocket', whilst also cracking into the mainstream with his more popular works which includes Roald Dahl's 'Fantastic Mr.Fox'. Creating a unique style, Anderson often only uses still shots when shooting his films, however he also utilises steady cams to pan and zoom in certain scenes, this limited range of camera shots helped establish and distinguish Anderson's style. I would like to experiment with this minimal camera shot technique as it could be used to help present the dull life I'm trying to portray in my short film and will contrast with all the action and unrealistic notion of popular movies, which will also give my short film a sense of social realism. If this technique is successful it will heighten the underlying concept of my short film, making it perhaps stronger and more effective overall.

Another aesthetic style which is noticeable in certain Anderson Films is the potent theme and focus on colour. For example, in 'Moonrise Kingdom', a film directed by Wes Anderson, the colour 'yellow' is seen in almost every shot throughout the film. This style can also be noted in 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou' this time with a different colour to suit the mood of the movie. This leads me to believe that Anderson uses a small colour palette for each of his works to help develop both the characters and the setting. I will also create my own minimal colour palette and theme for my short film to enhance the mood of my film.

Here is a scene from Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, in which both the above techniques can be seen:

9 Shots
Another inspiration for me is the work of street photographer '9 shots'. Street photography has always been of interest to me as it shows humans in natural poses and common situations. This reflects the true characteristics and probably mundane scenario which life is, for many people, which is something I want to inherit into my short film... Reality, showing emotion, exhaustion and isolation rather than the false poses and acting seen in both popular photography and films. Another thing I like about 9 shots street photography is that the character in his shots is usually smaller in scale compared to the scale of the setting/scenario. This could make the person less noticeable or less important which signifies the isolation of the character and their lack of effect within society. This is a technique I could deploy in my short film to achieve the desired effect of showing the mundane and lonely life of my character.

Here, below, is an example of 9 shots work, which encaptures the dull reality of every day life.

The Brief

Before I was even told about the briefs, I already had in mind that I wanted to involve video and filming in my coursework, however this was not specific enough to know what I wanted to do. As the different briefs were explained to me, there were several briefs that interested me due to the nature of working with video in these particular briefs. These briefs included:

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the band;
• a digipak for the album's release;
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

2. A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the film;
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
• a poster for the film.

10. A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

• a poster for the film;
• a radio trailer for the film;
• a film magazine review page featuring the film.

I have decided to base my coursework on brief number 10.

This was as previously mentioned due to the nature of the media I could work with. However, this particular brief intrigued me due to the potential I personally believed was there and also as a serious fan of the film industry it seemed appropriate for me to choose. Also, in a short film I could merge more of my personal interests into the project including literature, fine art and music. This factor will keep me motivated and help develop a more effective and successful piece of coursework.

Reflecting on my AS Year

Upon reflection of my first year studying Media Studies, I don't believe my AS coursework was up to the standard my tutors and even I expected. This was due to several personal issues throughout the year which caused inconveniences within my college life. Despite this, I believe I have learnt new skills and abilities in my first year. These skills include developing my photoshop skills, using new online software like 'Prezi' (www.prezi.com) and even learning the basics of blogging. Many of these skills I had never delved into before until I started my AS year and I believe this was clear throughout my coursework, in particular my blog and the amount of content I had uploaded to it was rather poor. However, I think my strong point and probably the most predominate aspect of my coursework was my final designs for my magazine, which showcased my photoshop skills which I had developed further during this year.

With my inconveniences no longer, I feel as though I am able to progress greatly this year and both learn new skills and apply old skills to this project with effect. I am particularly looking forward to working and experimenting with video, as it is a media that has always intrigued me yet I have not explored the potential of this new media in depth.