PLANNING - News Story

News Story

Another idea would be to create my film inspired by a News Story - I got this idea from watching the short film Over as well as talks by Neil Thompson (A former student) and Rob Wright (Amateur Screenwriter and Teacher at Long Road) they advised that this isa really simple way to come up with a good film. It would also allow me to focus more on the other aspects of film - not getting bogged down by storyline! Over (2015 By Jorn Threllfall) [1] is a short Film about an actual event that took place. This certainly adds a more gripping aspect to the film and gives you the shock factor at the end. The only problem would be that I'd have to ensure to get my facts straight and not choose an overly sensitive topic that could offend those who were involved. I would ensure that I go for a large News Story that has already had a lot of media coverage. I wouldn't go for one that is from a local News company as they are not such global events. Also another bonus with News Stories would be that if I chose certain ones about Natural disasters maybe I'd get to try my hand at some pretty cool filming techniques!

When looking into the idea I thought - as per usual with me - there's no point just speculating about the idea; so I had a dig around and found some News Stories [2] that could actually do, in my opinion, very well as Short Films! You can see them and my thoughts on them below.

NEWS STORIES:

1 - The Royal Wedding between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle - Now I'm not particularly a royalist if I'm honest but, that does not denote how much media coverage this event earned! IDEA: I thought that I could create a Shot Film from the perspective of someone blind. This would mean I'd have to work with sound a lot more; and a bit like with the film Operator [3] (2015 By Caroline Bartleet) I would be able to engage the viewer and excite them without having to attempt to film and recreate a gigantic wedding. Which is obviously a bonus for me as it would be impossible. I mean I don't have any Royal friends getting married anytime soon!

2 - The School Shooting in Parkland, Florida - This would be a very serious Short Film but, would be a fantastic opportunity to try and spread awareness of such terrible events. I would feel less comfortable doing this as I would feel obliged to do the victims justice and I don't know that if for a first attempt at film making I would be capable. IDEA: It would be good from the perspective that I can film in my college. I think I would either film a day in the life after the event or I would film the few hours before. A very dramatic perspective could be again a little Operator style - where it could be someone trying to contact someone else through the phone maybe a bum dial and they hear the events through the phone?

3 - The World Cup 2018 - Unlike the Royal Weddings, this did spark up an interest for me! I love the buzz and togetherness you feel when the sun is shining down and everyone is cheering at the underdogs actually getting somewhere. IDEA: Now while the World Cup was on I was working in a Café so a lot of the matches were during my shifts. There was certainly a high street buzz outside the window that disappeared any time England were playing. A good idea for this event would be to choose one of the matches and have another scene taking place that no one can focus on as everyone is too gripped by the match. Or maybe people attempting to watch it through their phones as they work - which everyone in my Café was guilty of and you could play on the buffering of reaction times as the phones are out of sync.


A major issue I did think about was the content of the News Stories. For example with the Royal Wedding we have so much coverage and information... How do I decide what deserves to stay and what gets the chop? With all of the news events they, as expected, have a large number of people involved so to produce a film I would have to think tactfully about how I relay the events without a huge cast!

[1] https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=over+by+jorn+threlfall&&view=detail&mid=E114419C4FC65EB4ABC4E114419C4FC65EB4ABC4&&FORM=VRDGAR
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-news-stories-google-trends-2018-12?r=US&IR=T
[3] https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=operator+short+film&&view=detail&mid=B1078C0D25EC99BCDA27B1078C0D25EC99BCDA27&&FORM=VRDGAR