Screenwriting with Dustin Lee

This is a video i have found on screenwriting, it is important at this time for me because my project is in the development stages."Film Riot" is the YouTube channel that offers advice tips and techniques to make your own films and by looking at this weeks episode i can get a grater understanding on screenwriting which i need to do for my project.

the young method actor

Developed idea "If walls could speak"

How the director made Iron Man vs Bruce Lee

He mainly uses tools to hold the shape as he moves to stop frame animate the characters and then adjusts lighting and contrast to give it a cinema feel and finally green screen the holders out, technical but very effective

Iron Man VS Bruce Lee by Patrick Boivin

This is a piece of stop frame animation but has a unique characteristic of continuity and action unlike most stop frame pieces. It uses technical aspects from film and the conventions of camera work but applies them into a stop frame movie, The film opens into instant action framing iron man ,flying, in a long shot as the camera appears to track back, the director adds a higher level of verisimilitude and makes the sequences feel more alive with small details that make a big impact such as the director uses depth of field and blurs to denote speed and keep the audiences attention on the action, another convention he uses is character mannerisms ,mostly seen in real life films, for example the way Bruce Lee touches his nose and bops around making him more authentic and real. Again the director introduces charters instantly and assorts authority by filming the two in a low angle adding to there life like dominer, sound is key to this piece it has parallel sound and is edited so the action is fluent and fast using quick transition as seen as straight cuts.
in the background the director has chosen to show ordinary household objects such as books laps and doors as well as filming the fight against skirting boards this reinforces the location and size of the characters and keeps the scene fantasy and artificial which is heightened by the bright artificial lighting. the director uses the camera well and films the scene using many zooms and longer shots which adds continuity but also keeps the film as if it was not stop fame giving it a more realistic style.
This is the most impressive use of stop frame animation, it has fluidity and a realistic composition, sound is key and it seems to be crated after the sound so the sequences fit and are parallel.

Teeth - directed by hn Kennedy & Ruairí O'Brien

This short film has a sense of humor and suttle quality, its style of cinematography has a look of beauty and uses tone and colour to grate effect. the feature opens with a extreme long shot introducing the audience to lake , again one of the four areas i pick out in the previous features, the grey dark tone instead of creating a sinister feel creates this wholesome type structure that is reinforced by the friendliness of the characters and the sound bridge of laughter. as the extract moves on non diagetic music is played that connotes play fullness and tranquility, again adding to the suttle friendly nature of the film, the pace is slow and uses dip to black transitions reflecting how time has passed, as the opening moves through extreme long shot to long shot both portraying the characters in shiloetts the director has established a air of mystery linking it to the unknown nature of fishing the main subject within the narrative.
finally the audience are introduced to the main charters two elderly men in old fashioned , grandad like , attire. The is no dialog in this short film and it relays on body language and facial expression to convey emotion and feeling which it dose successfully, the power of this silent dialog is easy to see and the directors use it well to build a whit and wholesome like atmosphere. one of the men sneezes and losses his teeth, which through a series of jump shots reveals the other to find this very humorous and causes him to laugh for a long period of time , his laughter creates a sound bridge between the faster paced shots but also through the dip to black transition showing a change in time, with his laughter linking the two time periods.
non diagetic music is still playing throughout until the lagging man hooks a fish, as the struggle of playing the fish in continuous the director uses a variety of close ups, mid shots and long shots to build pace and signify the struggle of the event, the level of verisimilitude is heightened by the stopping of music and the dominance of diagetic sound parrel to what is on screen. Luck is with this man today first by not loosing his teeth and now catching fish this ideology is symbolised through a shot where the laughing man is in the foreground , dominate, and the sad teeth less man is sitting in the background with his back to camera denoting sadness. however as he looks back non diagetic music is suddenly added to signify a change in hart which is duplicated by the mans facial expression changing simultaneously. the man puts his teeth in the fishes mouth and turns in hope to his friend, a graphic match is used putting the laughing man in the background and the unlucky man now in the foreground showing a change in dominance and enthuses which reveals the man to look ridiculous in the new teeth and with that he troughs them into the lake, leaving the laughing man shot in a close up stunned and helpless, with that the film end suddenly with a straight cut to black leaving the audience grinning.
in conclusion this film is pleasant and friendly the grey tones subvert common conventions instead of creating a cold sinister look, show a friendly humorous atmosphere. the directors use this silent dialog that instantly reveals a friendship between the two character but also convey emotion effectively. the film has a simplistic slow pace and uses no complicated themes or techniques and by doing so create an effective pleasant happy film that is a joy to watch, thoughts i took from this is simple is sometime better and i will now look at my own idea and think of how i can make it effective without over doing the sequence

The Black Hole directed by Phil and Olly

The short film opens with a tracking mid shot moving the camera to the left where a young male adult , tired and worn in exterior , stands framed in a mid shot. The comic serif styled font appears through a super imposed black whole at the start of the film linking narrative with editing techniques. Sound is key to this short film in that it creates a continuous sound bridge but also adds to the dull office boring atmosphere, this is reinforced by the lighting used within the scenes, the director has used only artificial light and picked a location with dull cold tones such as grey and light blue to convey the atmoshpere though mise-en-scene.
The only actor in the beginning of the feature is always framed fully revealing background and location giving the audience the impression and conformation he is alone, however the director uses a variety of camera shots such as close ups when the actor is irritated by the printer and is shown repeatedly tapping the printed and kicking the printed which focuses the audience on his frustration again adding to the annoying boring office culture created. In the first 10 seconds the director has introduced character established location and some sort of narrative 3 of the areas i picked out as being a common convention of any film or short film , something i must apply in my own project.
As the scene progresses and the actor interacts with the "Alain" hole the director has chosen to , when shooting through the hole putting the audience in place of the mysterious object , use non diagetic sound of a unfamiliar drowning sound effect, reinforcing its alien like properties. When the character uses the whole to get a free chocolate bar a close up revealing him chewing , in a greedy manner , shows the audience his change in emotion going from amazement to greed and law braking intent as the close up is used to show the actors expression change vividly. The man uses the hole to steal cash this is the start of his demise which in turn builds the pace of the scene where the director uses a quicker transition but more variety in shot such as when watching it is clearly shown he is framed in long shots, mid shots and close ups in quick concession adding to the pace and drama. parallel sound is used to signify drama and a frantic scene as well as the actor showing panic in expression and body language which suddenly comes to a climax with the man falling into the whole trapped!
The short film i feel looks at the greed of man and hes ability to abuse a power, looking at the techniques used it is clear short film directors engage the audience almost instantly revealing the 3 of the four main areas , location - character - narrative and genre, camera shots are used for different purpose such as a close up will reveal intent and key point be it props or reaction, long shots show location and can de-power a character and mid shots are used in dialog and as a link to long shots and close ups.