Sound Unit - Main Idea & Workshop Video

So for my sound unit, I have decided to tell the story of a lonely heart. A girl who meets a man she met online, and has him round for dinner, but things don't go entirely to plan, and she ends up alone once again. I have set up two fake online dating profiles which will be used briefly within the project, and the pictures all work and look good, I feel I could make something really interesting out of it. I have a good idea for the sounds and pace of the piece, so when it comes to uploading and editing, I hope the result will be as good as I am planning!

Also, last week, as part of getting us ready for this project, we were given a short 2 minute clip and asked to put sound to it. This is the resulting piece that Sam Creamer and I came up with...

We did not go as daring as we could have, using different noises in place of the more traditional noises, but I feel it still works rather well, flows quite nicely and does sound good!

Sound Unit and a bit of Story-Telling Unit!

So we started our Sound Unit last week. Last week we learnt about the use of different microphones, in case we wanted to record any sounds for our project, and just for general future use for any work we may do in the future.
We learnt how to use a blimp, a boom and even radio mics, as well as the external microphones for the Sony Camera's we use, we were given a bit more information on them. I found the quality of sound coming out of these to be incredible, so I have decided that I shall probably attempt to record the majority of my sounds for my project myself, as I know I can get some very high quality sounds now.

I have begun the editing process of my The Meeting Trailer today also, and it is going rather well. It should be complete and up on this blog by Friday at the latest. It's getting exciting!

Story Telling Unit : Soft Trailer Number 2

So we decided to go for the complete polar opposite in our second trailer. This time we show the perspective of the Father. Hope you enjoy!

Storytelling Module - Soft Trailer Number 1

Today, we were put into pairs and told to make trailers for Simon Ellis' short film "Soft".
Sam and I decided we would make 2 trailers. One from the point of view of the character aptly named ASBO and the other from the point of view of the Father and Son. We have not yet made the latter but we shall be doing tomorrow.
For now here is our first advert. Enjoy!

Storytelling Unit - The Meeting Character Profiles

Here I have attempted to give shape to the 3 characters within my story. The main protagonist is Sidney, the antagonist Cortell, and his associate. Being the central characters and the only ones that appear with speaking roles, I felt it necessary to only write about them.
I have also come up with a new idea to add to what I have written in my previous blog. I have decided to make the first part of the story a narrative of Sidney's, starting at the stand off at gunpoint between Sidney and Cortell. Sidney will ask the question "How did I end up here?" and he will tell his story. But anyway, below are the characters for my piece:

The Meeting - Character Profiles


Sidney Ferris - Sidney is the central character and protagonist to the story. Unemployed, no family, no friends, he is your average nobody. Despite all this he is an intelligent and quite athletic young man, he has just never received a break in his life. He struggles to find work for his lack of confidence in himself. He knows this, knows that he does not have the social skills needed to get a job, and make something of himself. This is why when the opportunity to join "MI6" comes along, he jumps at it and strives to do his best in the task he has at hand. He hates it when people shorten his name to Sid, in his eyes, he is just Sidney. He always corrects people when they do call him Sid. When he gets kidnapped however, with the opportunity that comes up, he does develop some confidence in himself, which lets him stand up to the crafty Mr Cortell, resulting in a struggle for his life in the end.

Edmund Cortell - Cortell is the central antagonist to the story, shown at the beginning in a stand off with Sidney. He is a dark and deceitful man, who shows no remorse to any of his actions, he is in fact an international criminal mastermind. He enjoys conflict (subtly put across by the way he constantly calls Sidney, Sid) and hurting people. He is a very powerful man and can come across as quite influential and convincing in his lies. He likes being a figure of authority, getting Sidney and his associate to call him Mr Cortell. He believes he is the best, and that his plans and ideas cannot be matched by anyone. He is very proud and once he gets an idea in his head, there is nothing that can stop him from going through with it, and whatever anyone tells him, he will not back down. However his confidence is thrown in the stand off with Sidney. How can a man that has never amounted to anything, be the one who possibly stops him for good?

The Associate - A man with no known name, always referred to as "My Associate" by Cortell. He is a big man, with very little to say. Very much like your aver thug, goon or lackey. He always listens to and does with Cortell asks with no hesitation.

I hope this gives a better insight to the story and idea I have come up with. The time span I am planning to use for the story is over a few days. I have also broken it down quite suitably I feel, into a decent beginning middle and end, though I shall get to that later!

Ciao for now!

Story Telling Unit - The Meeting Ideas

I had a couple of ideas, well mainly one which I developed into something bigger which I shall share with you all now. It's a little rough and ready, and seems like a bit much, but I am almost certain I can fit it in to a ten minute slot.

Ideas for “The Meeting”

Initial idea, a man badmouths his boss at work, and has to have a meeting with him. He goes to the meeting and his insane boss ends up promoting him instead as he likes the attitude of the man.

Revamped idea, an athletic young man who works as a <insert some form of job role> is spotted by an older man and his associate. On the younger mans way to work the next day, he gets abducted with a bag put around his head by an assailant you do not see the face of, and placed in the back of a car which then drives off. When he awakes and the bag is taken off his head, he is in an office, tied to a chair. He sees the older man who then orders his associate to untie him, on the condition that he stays calm. After agreeing to do so, he is untied. The man introduces himself as Deputy-Director of MI6, and he is looking for a new young up-coming agent to join the agency. The guy is slightly taken aback, and doesn’t know what to believe; after all, he has been kidnapped. The older guy tells him if he changes his mind, to call a number (written on a piece of paper given to him). After a short amount of time and thinking, the young man calls the number, and the minute he dials he is abducted with a bag placed over his head again. This time when it is pulled off, he is in the same room but not tied up. The agent gives him his briefing, of which he must pull off solo if he is to get the position as an agent himself. The task involves breaking in to the back of a warehouse and stealing a flash drive, with no casualties to occur either.  He is given the security codes and told once in he has 15 minutes to get the flash drive, and get out. After successfully stealing the flash drive, he gets to a said meeting place to meet with the DD. The DD then takes the flash drive, and pulls a gun to the man’s head. Confused, he backs him into a corner and tells him that he isn’t the DD after all; he was just playing the young man.  He tells him he needed to use him and play him so he would steal it for him – he needed a nobody who no one would miss or relate to the crime scene. The young man then pulls a gun himself on the criminal. They have a short stand off before a gunshot is heard and there is a black out. FIN.

Storytelling Unit - Prewriting Practice

We were placed into pairs and told to come up with ideas for 10 minute stories, using newspapers for inspiration. Here's what we came up with in my group.

Title:  Spoilt

Genre:  Drama/Crime

The Idea: A 17-year-old girl accuses her brother’s friend (24) of raping her, when it is in fact a lie. The story focuses however on the brother’s friend and his struggle with being accused of rape when he is in fact innocent.

Theme: The film is essentially about the repercussions of false accusation and lying. It also highlights the prejudice on men with ‘guilty till proven innocent’

Characters:  Mikey – 24 years old. 6 foot 2 inches tall. Blonde long hair.  Middle class, quite trendy, good-looking. His peers all love him and find him funny, a genuine nice guy. He is the victim of the accusation.

Madeline (Maddy) – 17 years old. 5 foot 4 inches tall. Long dark brown hair. Middle class and the sister of Mikey’s best friend, Patrick.  Spoilt and has everything she has ever wanted with the attention always focused on her, when her brother gets engaged, the attention is driven away from her, so she tells an elaborate lie (the rape) to bring everything back on her.

Patrick (Paddy) – 24 years old, 6 foot tall, the brother of Madeline. Suave ginger hair. He has just recently become engaged and received a very high profile job. He loves his sister but does often call her a ‘brat’, although obviously he does still love her, so sides with her over the accusation against Mikey.

Setting: Set in Canterbury and in the current time (last couple of years etc.)