Contents:
- Rationale
- Style and Format
- Scope
- The Project
My aim for this graduation project is to really hone my film pre-production skills. This includes skills like scriptwriting, narrative building, genre defining, planning for a specific cinematic tone, etc. My career aim is to be a freelance producer with specialisms in film/video pre-production. Specifically writing, conceptualising and directing.
My intention for this project is to produce pre-production content for an original short film that could be pitched to the BFI Network for Short Film Funding or another short film funding scheme. Therefore, I will create a short film proof of concept to show the funding networks what I would be capable of producing if I had their financial support.
In my film pitch, I aim to produce:
- A film script
- A character biography
- Fully edited proof-of-concept footage, which could take the form of a full scene from the script, a teaser trailer, camera test footage, etc.
- A storyboard for this proof-of-concept footage
- Some images and/or sound bites that help to display the film’s tonal attributes, which could take the form of concept pictures, audio effects, etc.
All the intended materials will be made to a professional final edit standard.
The short film is a coming of age story. But it also includes elements of the fantasy and drama genres.
I will write the script using scriptwriting software like Celtx. A character biography can be formatted in Word. I will capture the proof-of-concept footage myself and edit it using Premiere Pro. The storyboard will be produced using a mixture of Illustrator and Celtx's storyboard software. Any conceptual images will be captured by myself and edited using Photoshop and Lightroom.
With this variety of software skills, this project will be a culmination of all my university skills.
The script will be no more than 10 minutes/pages in length, as this is the standard entry requirement for the BFI Network.
The character biography will be exactly one page, it exists to add more depth to the narrative beyond the script.
The proof-of-concept footage will be a maximum of 2 minutes in length, long enough to show the film’s tone and narrative attributes.
The storyboard will illustrate several of the shots to be captured in the proof-of-concept footage. It will also include information like camera and actor movements as well as some notes on the intended tone.
Any additional content like concept pictures will be efficiently planned and presented using industry-standard formats.
Introducing my short film pitch...
Fia follows the story of a young girl who suffers from a generalised anxiety disorder. Fia also has the gift of mind-reading, however, this is not a blessing. Fia's anxiety means she lives in fear of people judging her. But her mind-reading curse means she knows exactly what people think about her every second, every day.
The narrative takes place over a couple of days. The film follows Fia and the audience experiences her life at school and home as well as all the drama that comes with both. She has no friends, her family are the only people she feels close to. But with her parents recently separated and her brother far away at university, she must face her struggles alone.
My idea for this film came when I decided to combine two trending themes in modern media. These being mental health and superhero fantasy. Hence, the film will appeal to modern media audiences. I formed the idea of a girl who has a superpower, but this power negatively impacts her mental health. Introducing, Fia (sounds like fear).
This character bio was the first step toward producing the narrative. Using the information from the character bio, I produced a script that follows this character's story.
My intention for the film is for the story to be shown rather than said. This is why, wherever possible, some scenes feature only stage directions with little to no dialogue. My main goal when writing the script was to only include dialogue where the information could not be shown in any other format.
The story itself follows a traditional narrative arc but also makes use of narrative beats from concepts like the hero's journey. The diagram below visualises the story arc:
Introduces character as different from the crowd
This is presented in the opening scene when all of the school students walk out of the classroom apart from one, our main character, Fia.
Teases mind-reading ability
The teacher is shocked when Fia correctly identifies what they will cover in tomorrow's class.
Foreshadowing
Fia almost experiences an anxiety attack on the bus, she agitates and breathes heavily.
Introduces important prop
Fia's earphones save her from experiencing an anxiety attack on the bus.
Rising conflict
During a text message conversation with her Brother and Father, Fia learns that she is not able to see her Father as originally planned and the relationship between her Brother and her Father is worrying.
Climatic event
Fia experiences an anxiety attack during class.
Falling action
Fia experiences another smaller anxiety attack on the bus ride home.
Meeting the mentor
Fia finds her Brother at home waiting to help her.
Revelation
It is revealed to Fia and the audience that her mind-reading ability is a delusion and not real.
Resolution
Fia and her Brother embark on a journey to help each other and get better.
After finalising a draft for the script. I went about planning the conceptual and tonal productions. First I planned to capture some concept pictures.
I then captured and edited the pictures so that they visually present the concepts and tone of the film.
Next, I designed a storyboard for the audio-visual proof-of-concept footage.
I then set out to capture and edit this footage. I selected camera angles and movements like handhelds and dolly shots that bring tension and the eerie feeling of being alone. I colour graded the footage so that it looked cold and dramatic, representative of Fia's emotions in the script. Finally, I added some audio that best matched the film's tone.
That is the end of my Fia short film pitch. Special thanks to Emily Fernley and Regan Jones for their acting and voice-acting contributions. Some of the music and/or audio effects used are from Zapsplat.com and freesound.org.