Secondary Research Methods:
- Radio programmes
- TV programmes
- Magazine articles
- Graphic and art work
- Internet resources
- Photographic journals
- Web pages
- Archives museums
Secondary research methods I will be conducting:
–Read articles on moments that are often overlooked
–Watching short experimental documentaries on YouTube to gain inspiration
–Looking into photographer’s work and seeing the ways in which they capture moments – Jay Maisel
–Use online sources to find out the average length of a short films
–Find background music that will go well with my film. I can look on royalty free music websites such as sound cloud.
The main intent of my extended project is to encourage the audience to think about the moments in their life and learn to appreciate these moments more. Therefore I will need to conduct research into small moments that are often overlooked as well as significant moments that are more highly regarded. This way I will be able to include a variety of different moments allowing people to be able to relate to some and think about others they may not consider very often. I will also need to do some research into other short documentary’s so I can see the best way to present and convey my ideas.
Primary Research I plan on conducting:
–Questionnaire asking my target audience questions regarding moments in their own life. This will allow me to give me an idea of moments that stand out to my audience and ideas of what I can include in my film. I will ask people in my class as this is the age range my film will be aimed at.
–Record an audio interview asking a few people to list different moments they have experienced
–Complete pre-production paper work including a health and safety assessment.
–Personally looking through a friend’s memory box to see which moments she has found significant and what she has kept onto that represents these moments
–Analyse short documentary style film to see what has worked well for them and how this can influence my film
–Observe different locations around the area I live to see which locations would be suitable for filming in: Places I could observe could include: the beach, my house and a local field.
–Experiment with different shot types I will be suing to ensure they are effective in portraying each clip
–Complete script for voice-over so I am clear about what I am portraying. I will need to complete secondary online research on the concept of moments before I feel confident in producing my script.
–Audio testing to find out which microphone would be most affective in recording a voice-over. I can test different microphones the college can provide me with such as a shotgun mic and a lapel mic.
My target audience will be 18-20 year olds as I think this age range would be most likely to have an interest in watching an influential documentary. I also feel this is an age in which the individual would have experienced enough moments to be able to relate and connect with the film, while also having more moments in life yet to come that they may be evoked to think about in a different way in the future.
Skills and Techniques
I will need to carry out some research into the skills and techniques I will be using in my film, specifically camera related techniques. I will need to look into different shot types and how different angles can help to portray a certain meaning. For example an arc shot may present feelings of confusion or feeling trapped. I want my film to be visually pleasing and I would like the shots to compliment what the voice-over dialogue is saying which is why I feel that research into this area is important. For one of my scenes I hope to use an arc shot as the character is opening her exam results as I feel this shot will help to convey her fear and nerves as she prepares herself to open them, however in order to do this successfully I will watch clips of times this shot has been used in other films so I can have an idea of the best way to conduct this.
Buzz Feed Article
33 moments that are more important than you think – Buzzfeed – Mike Spohr (2014)
This buzz feed article I found helpful when researching moments and their importance. The article gives 33 different examples of moments in life that are often overlooked. This was able to give me a clear idea the kind of moments I wanted to include in my film and gave me proof that these moments were regarded as ones that are often not appreciated enough. As one of the main themes of my film is appreciating moments I felt that looking through the list of moments in the article was helpful in allowing my film to be accurate and representative of real moments people find insignificant. The final moment on the list was making time to watch the sunset and as this is a moment I personally appreciate I knew this was something I wanted to include in my film. The final quote on the article: “While some moments are more profound than others, every single one we experience is worthy of our appreciation and gratitude” was also something I connected with and felt fit in with the themes of the film. I am also considering adapting this quote to use as part of the voice-over in my film.
Jay Maisel Photography
Jay Maisel has a way od capturing moments through his artistic photography. One of the most significant ways to preserve moments and keep them as memories is to take photos. One element of my film is encouraging my audience to take photos of experiences in their life in order to remember these moments in their future therefore I felt looking into some real life photography was an important part of my research. One thing I liked about Jay’s photography was the style and the way they make you feel as if you are experiencing what he is. He often captures real moments that are happening and from looking them you start to wonder what else was happening in the moment and connect it to any similar experiences you have had. This is what I hope to capture in my short film, for the audience to be able to feel as if they are experiences the moments in which my characters are experiencing. I also think the photos I have shown below are powerful in evoking certain emotions and I like the way the photos can be interpreted differently by different people. For example the image of the man standing alone could be interpreted in a variety of different ways; him being lonely or him wanting alone time to experience the beautiful sky.
John Ellis – Recent work by Jay Maisel (2017)
Research into the ideal length of a short film
From looking into research other people have conduced on how long a short film should be I have come to the overall conclusion that the shorter the better. From looking at New York Film Accedemy’s article on ‘how long should a short film be’ I was able to look into their findings particularly on the length of short films that have been accepted into film festivals. The study showed an upcoming film maker’s experience of having 3 of his short films accepted into a film festival despite them not being the best quality but due the them all being under 3 minutes long. This contrasted with the detailed 25 minute long short films that struggles to make it to the festival. Seeing as a festival would be able to fit in more of the short films that longer ones this makes sense and has given me the understanding that if wanted to submit my film into a festival shorter producing a short film would be more sensible, and as this is something I am considering this was helpful information. The article also talked about not spending too much time on the credits as 5 minute long credits can be off-putting and will make the film seem longer than it is. From this I have concluded that ideally I would like my film to b around 3 minutes long as this gives me a good amount of time to convey my message and show the different moments without it being too lengthy and ongoing. The book ‘Making short films’ by Clifford Thurlow also gave me insight into planning and producing short films and gave details of some of the major film festivals people can send their short films in to which was helpful for my overall research, however I did not find specifics on the exact length a short film should be and it was simply suggested that short films should ideally be under 30 minute long.
Short Film Influence
ON MY MIND: TIME – Christian Lanza – YouTube (2015)
I found this video when first searching though short films looking for inspiration on what I should make my film on. Although this didn’t help with come up with the actual idea of my project, I loved the style of the film and it confirmed in my head that I wanted to make an experimental style documentary myself. I think the music in this is powerful and the slow tone evokes emotions within the audience to think about what the person is saying. As the music is calm it allows you to focus on his words rather than the music itself, while still allowing the film to be pleasing to listen to. From this I have realised I need whichever background music I pick to be subtle so that my audience will also be focused on listening to the voice-over and my ideas on moments.
I also like the fact that towards the end of the film the music gets quieter, putting more emphasis on the dialogue and suggesting to the audience that what the speaker is saying now is important . Another element about this short film that attracted me to it was that the voice-over was somewhat educational and enlightened me as a viewer on the film-makers views on time. I hope that through my film I will be able to project my personal views on moments in a similar way that will encourage my audience to think more about the significance of moments in their own life.
The overall tone of this film is fairly gloomy due to the low lighting and overall darkness of the film. Although I think this helps build to the overall atmosphere and that thinking too much about time can be being depressing, I think I will decide to use more natural lighting throughout my film in order to create a more positive atmosphere to go along with the concept that moments should be appreciated.
Marc and Angel Hack Life – Angel Chernoff (2006 – 2017) – Last Accessed: 25/4/17 http://www.marcandangel.com/2016/11/20/40-perfect-moments-we-forget-to-appreciate/
The Importance of Moments – RobertMichaelMurray (2017) – Last Accessed: 25/4/17 https://medium.com/@rmm/the-power-of-moments-b8851f97efaa
33 moments that are more important than you think – Buzzfeed – Mike Spohr (2014) – Last Accessed: 25/4/17 https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/33-amazing-moments-to-savor-in-life?utm_term=.ienNOAPKM#.hrm712Dvo – list of different moments
ON MY MIND: TIME – Christian Lanza – YouTube (2015) – Last Accessed: 25/4/17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my429upIDkU
John Ellis – Recent work by Jay Maisel (2017) – Last Accessed: 25/4/17 http://www.jaymaisel.com/recent-work/
New York Film Academy Blog – Frank Pasquine (2013) https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/how-long-should-a-short-film-be/ – Last Accessed: 27/5/17