Synopsis

I have written a first draft of a brief synopsis explaining the key points of the film to reference back to and convey what the story is based on.

Synopsis

Two girls are on their way to work in a small rural town in Somerset. One of them notices a strange character sitting on a bench, staring off into space. As they day passes the man remains on the bench as before. As the girls finish work and head home they notice the mysterious individual is still there. Once at home one of the girls looks out of her window, noticing he is still there she heads back out to see him and make sure if he is okay. As she introduces herself the man doesn’t reply at all. Feeling embarrassed the girl leaves. As she heads down the street the next day she notices he has gone, but there waiting on the bench where he sat there is a present with her name written on the tag.

This is a good initial move for my project as we can use it to base all my further work on this project.

Film Project Title

I've chosen a few key words that relate to the main point of my film where a girl meets a mysterious man in her local town, from this I will rearrange the words and choose my favourite arrangement.

Title Options

• New Beginning
• Fortunate Encounter
• Chance Encounter
• Destined Acquaintance
• Initial Encounter
• Fortunate Destiny
• Providential Meeting
• Lucky beginnings
• Chance of Fate
• Primary Luck
• Original Opportunity

My Title
I have narrowed my title down to three options I will choose from when I finish my short film.

'A CHANCE ENCOUNTER'
'BEGINNINGS'
'THE ENCOUNTER'

Schedule

I've put together a schedule for December to try and get me up to date with the rest of the class by the time I come back to college after the winter break.

If I can stick to this schedule I should be ready to film as soon as I start the spring term of college and should hopefully be up to date by February.

Work schedule

My and my tutor have come up with a check list for me to refer to over the next chapter of my film project. Because I joined the course late and have to work on my project alone it is extremely important for me to plan out my work schedule over the next two months to avoid slipping behind the other groups and their projects.

These are the things I have to catch up with by Christmas:

• - A title for my film
• - A tagline 
• - Storyline/synopsis
• - Character’s, locations, props, style and form
• - Plan B
• - Schedule and deadlines

Scene Structure

I will be basing this using the basic three act structure of narrative as opposed to the Monomyth or Syd Field's Paradigm as this film will be based around five minutes long. I want this film to have a relaxed story line with much deeper denotations and connotations. The three act structure seems adequate for where I am in producing my story at the moment.

First Scene (Setup)

Young woman goes to collect her friend.

They head down towards work.

They see a stranger on the way.

They Finish work and leave.

Second Scene (Confrontation)

They walk home.

They see the man is still there.

They go home.

The young woman comes back to see him.

The man does not reply to her.

Third Scene (Resolution)

The young woman walks past the same place.

Instead of the man there is a present for her.

Ideas For Narrative Brainstorm

My teacher thought it would be a good idea to brainstorm some a few ideas for my short film to help broaden my options and better my project. I came up with three basic incidents with two ways for the initial story to digress to further the narrative and together we managed to decide on the most ideal option.

I like anything I film to have a clear sense of realism similar to the style of Federico Forcolini, for this a film often needs the audience to see characters undertaking menial tasks or having relationships we can relate to such as showing the relationship between best friends or mother and daughter.

There were a few issues raised about some of the ideas I had to start my project with such as the idea of filming a teenager drinking alcohol and going out for the night is very over used in student films and rarely executed well. A few other points came to light with other ideas such as reminiscing about a loved one would require flashbacks which will a minimal budget and equipment could easily end up looking tacky and poorly constructed.

My teacher and I discussed my options and we both voted for the use of 'Meeting a stranger' as it has the most potential as a successful short film, looking through my research into short films proves to be a popular choice amongst other film makers and allows me a wide spectrum of possible paths my story can take whilst being a realistic option for a minimal budget and provided equipment.

Short Film Makers

I decided to do some research on some iconic short film makers in an attempt to help me progress my short story into a short film.

SHANE MEADOWS

Shane Meadows has built up a very successful career having spent years making short films before his feature length films that made him the name he is in the film industry today. Shane Meadows films are known for being the epitome of gritty British drama, conveying a real depth to the characters and a strong sense of realism in his films which are all aspects I would like to bring alive in my short film.

Where's The Money Ronnie

Directed by: Shane Meadows

12 mins

1995

This is an early short film by Shane Meadows in which four characters give their version on recent events including a robbery, a street fight and two shootings. This film is a critically acclaimed picture and was the cause of Channel 4 funding him to continue making films.

http://www.shanemeadows.co.uk/

On his official website in Shane Meadows biography it states:

"As Shane looks to future feature length projects, he still likes to return to the creation of short films as often as he can. As This Is England was released in the UK, Shane was busy shooting a short documentary about his life-long friend, the singer/song-writer, Gavin Clark. "