'Post-it Love, written and directed by British duo Simon Atkinson & Adam Townley (thus Si & Ad) is just about as close to perfection as you can get in a romantic short film. Post-it Love shows us two shy office workers looking for love but unable to say so overtly. There is some suspension of disbelief needed but these are romance shorts made for the silver screen!' http://www.filmsshort.com/genre/Romantic-Short-Films-1.html
This is a 3 minute film I found on filmshort.com, tells the story of a 'blooming office romance' presented with no script, simply actions. I was drawn to this due to its use of performance without vocals to create a storyline that is easily understood by the audience. The two characters perform actions to create this idea of love, doing things at the same time, and the end shot (shown on the right), the male character creates this portrait out of post-it notes. Art direction is key in this film, the use of bright colour in the dull office workspace, making the theme of love and happiness key to the audience. Obviously the story is practically told through a prop - post-it notes, this makes it easy for the director/art direction to force the narrative the way they want. This is an example of the kind of light hearted film i'd like to make, making it easy for the audience to follow. This film is an example of how the use of art direction can be used almost fuel the film.
This is a rough script written by Alice '(Young boy emerges from large house) Voice Over William:
William Arthur Swift. Aged 11. Brown hair, brown eyes. 5 Ft 2. Slightly above average height for my age. But then again my IQ is slightly above average too. I use the word slightly to retain some modesty but i can be honest i guess. My IQ WAY above average.I listen to classical music. Hobbies are for kids. I have intellectual ‘interests’. Like string theory, and psychoanalysis. The kids in my class are preoccupied with weekly disco’s and social interaction. I am interested in these things too.
(Cut to medium long shot of awkward disco scene)
I like to sit outside the disco and monitor body language in correlation to gender, age, and time of night. I like to make graphs. Like I said, I am interested in social interaction. Just not in a way that means I have to socially interact.So basically my life is as rich as a chocolate fondant. Rich with academia and skills, not saturated fats. I have tried to integrate myself in with my class at play time. I agreed to participate in handball at lunch.
(Cut to shot of him in playground awkwardly not catching a ball/being hit in the face with it.)
It didn't pan out how I expected. I like to set challenges for myself. I have this task at the moment which is pretty much the most important of my year so far. I have to deliver a letter. The few episodes of postman pat I was exposed to as an infant warned me never to trust the postal service. This is something I have to do myself to ensure maximum success. It’s for Lucy Evans. Ash blonde female, around 4 ft 1 on my table in literacy, hair smells faintly but pleasantly of strawberry laces. (Cut to slightly blurred close up of Lucy Evens flipping her hair)
I like her a lot. This amount of human attraction is unusual for me, a new sensation I almost dismissed before deciding it will probably enrich my intelligence if anything. If my plan works I can do tests on her, with her, whatever. I guess she has the classic good looks that statistically I should be falling for at this age, and she is probably the most intelligent of the girls in my class. Which is not saying much, but she did a very accurate sketch of a velociraptor once which impressed me. I asked her to do it after school and bring it in for me the next day. A little test before I went through with this letter thing. I needed to know she was perfect. She might have traced it but I guess if she did then that shows problem solving ability. Unable to sketch dinosaur; trace it. She did it without any question though which I liked. She must be a pragmatist. I can sketch a dinosaur.
(looks to right of street and sees two young boys playing 'curby' shakes head)
They have it all wrong. For starters he's never going to hit that curb, the trajectory is way off. They are waisting their time. They'd be better off catching up on this weeks maths homework. I'm not a betting man but i'd put at least 10 pounds on that they haven't even started the sheet. And it's double sided.. Anyway, this letter is revolutionary. It is vital. I am carrying it with greater care than a mother to a child, I am suppressing my anticipation to eliminate any unwanted hand shaking or leg wobbling as to not smudge the penmanship. I will deal with those emotions later. Nearly there now, the final stretch. Lucy Evan’s door in sight. I know exactly how this will pan out, I have planned this moment every inch from the time taken to reach destination 3 minutes 45 seconds.To the exact angle I should post the letter through the box to make sure it lands face up at a right angle to the door in maximum eye line of someone walking down the stairs to collect the post. Someone like Lucy.' I am very pleased with this script, Alice obviously has a very clear idea of what she wanted the film to be like in her head. We had a meeting to discuss the script and we have decided to have little flash backs or moments where we get to see things that William is talking about, away from the original real time narrative for example, where he talks about the children playing curby, implying he's not that interesting, we could have a shot of him getting hit in the head with the ball. Or when he talks about the dinosaur we could have shots of both dinosaur pictures (that I will draw). We are going for a light hearted film, with elements of comedy, I'm very excited to get into production.
The night before receiving the brief I had been browsing Vimeo, I came across this short film named Roshambo by a company called Free People. The film works through the ideas of star crossed lovers, with a couple reuniting over some times on a Brooklyn street, starting out as a cup of coffee and a conversation turns into an unexpected romance, this develops throughout the narrative, then the male character has to leave, with the ending leaving the audience shocked, thinking whether he left or stayed.
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What drew me most to this film was how powerful it was in just 3 minutes, it left me wanting to know the ending. I also like the style of the film. The cinematography really stood out for me here, with the slow camera movement really added to the atmosphere, setting the tone, bringing out the beauty in the simplest of objects. There is a very shallow depth of field used (Image1), as you can see the director very clearly wants us to focus on the girl, this shot lingers for around 9 seconds, it moves slowly up her face and she blinks, which is in slow motion. This shot is a direct attempt to get the audience to connect with the female, allowing the audience to focus on her beauty, maybe think about what she is feeling for this man. I feel the shallow depth of field has been used for stylistic purposes, the director has very obviously stated/made a clear decision about 'this is how we're filming it'. I love the style used and being the cinematographer for my group I will discuss the style we will take when we shoot.
To the right (Image2) is one of my favourite shots in the whole film, I feel it perfectly shows the theme for the film; love. This is part of a sequence in the short film were the director makes it clear to the audience that these two people are now in a intimate relationship. Lighting is key to this scene, there are times were the the lighting is very soft, connotations of this in context of the film are tenderness and the act of falling in love. This screen shot is were the two character kiss, the camera moves down slowly to reveal a strong sun glaring into the camera, this shows the strength of the bond the two characters have, making there relationship the focus and strengthening the connection with the audience. strength
Along with the soft sounds of Lord Hurons - 'Ghost On The Shore' adds to the atmosphere of the piece, with the only real audio apart from this being the characters vocals. At the end, there is a scene were the couple are both stood next to a taxi were the male character questions whether he should be leaving. The audio here is just vehicles moving around and them talking. This is a almost silent scene even with audios, which is a strange idea, it leaves the viewer on edge.
This piece for me is incredibly inspiring, the beauty of the cinematography, performance and sound are spun together in a way that makes you connect with the character in pretty much under a minute. This powerful piece will definitely influence my style when filming my piece.
Upon getting the brief I have been thinking about the different forms of journey. For example a mental journey, through grief, depression or anxiety, then I went on to think about some sort of light hearted films with hints of humour. I am finding it quite hard to think about actual story lines relating to the brief.
This is a very brief mind map I did straight after receiving the brief.
