FMP YEAR 2
PROPOSAL Version 1.0
1. Influences / Inspiration
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One of my inspirations or influences, why I decided to chose to write this kind of style, is from RedLetterMedia commentary where they have shared some thoughts about certain movies, specifically from their review on "Cocaine Bear", as they have said in the video that are types of comedy, one being just silly, stupid, and goofy, embracing being nonsense, while the other is self-aware that it's stupid and tries to be the next level by making characters treat it too seriously, I will try to succeed with that kind of comedy, although it might not be helpful in what I'm creating. I was inspired also by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver's videos on Law & Order and Police Interrogations, especially the skits at the end by taking all the information throughout the video and clearly taking the Mick out of real-life facts, which works well with my style of being silly but also serious at the same time, as they do it the opposite way. I recently looked at Peter Cushing's Sherlock Holmes and Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple 1960s films, as they are both murder mysteries/detective shows, and they are almost old enough to be counted for as reference to use for a parody on old crime shows. With comedy I saw the Scary Movies Series which I also watched recently, as trying to be silly while speaking seriously is used a lot here. Another great example would be the episode called "Making Dennis Reynolds a Murderer" from the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as it shows how funny it sounds, but not trying to purposely sound like they trying to make a joke.
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2. Ideas / Concepts
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It is a 1940s black and white noir style with comedy genre to have the plot being silly taken too seriously like it's a real problem, as there are two characters, the detective and suspect in middle of interrogation, with the crime being about a missing stolen fruit.
At the start there is going to be a short chase scene with the suspect trying to escape from the detective, and then once he's caught, we go into interrogation. By trying to experiment with my special effects editing, I will develop some sort of frozen frame silent film style movement. Between 0:40 and 1:00 is the example I'm attempting to do. This is from Peter Cushing's Sherlock Holmes (1965 TV Series) The Hound of the Baskervilles.
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Another example is the cinematic style how these video games are played out and I be attempting to mimic the same way in film without animation, but with live-action.
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I chose a comedic writing style for my plot, but with the characters taking it too seriously, as inspired from Snakes on a Plane, due to it's cult recognition and fanbase. Few films before chose to have the characters respond to this normally as a threat, with us as viewers seeing the silliness of the events. I'm hoping to do the same here with my film treating the fruit being stolen as the most horrible crime ever.
This would be considered a sequel, to improve on my last FMP, which was also about mystery in it's story, I want to improve on the visuals, and the scriptwriting, as I've learned from last time, that it was production that failed me, and I shouldn't heavily rely all my effort on editing. This ended up being a waste of my time, as I received feedback to improve on my cutting and transitions. This time I hope to improve in this area. I want to do this because I want to be experimental and unique in the way that I use my new skills. Another reason why I want to repeat the same thing that I did on my last FMP, without the rotoscope, is to improve on my cinematography and colour gradient.
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My second idea, is using horror style short film with the use of the static effect constantly throughout the whole video, as a way to give style and unsettling creepiness, for example Slenderman, The Ring, Poltergeist. I will make the plot about found footage of them doing a live-action documentary, with the nearer it gets to the end, becoming more broken. This would be the reason why the footage becomes filled with more static, and the characters become more paranoid, until driven to suicide. I will do this effect by using sharpness, blur, and noise to give that affect, and thanks to freesound.org I can gain access to static shock sounds, to make it more realistic. The reason I want to do this is because I want to attempt a horror-related effect and learn how to do it for the future, to use this as an opportunity to have potential skills to bring to future work on horror movies.
My third idea, is to do a superhero fight scene again, as I have experience making it before, but this time to make it more interesting. Instead of lightning this time I will focus on the theme of pyrokinesis, with a story, and more dialogue filled scenes, to show character and expression. In my last superhero piece of work, my problem was that I focused my time more on the effect and fighting scene, and didn't have any dialogue cutscenes available to work on. This time I will limit the fighting scenes time duration down to 30 seconds, and have rest of the short film be about the character's origin or dealing with the aftermath when going away to fight the villain.
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​3.Target Audience
My Target Audience is around Late 20s-Mid 30s aged people, because they be more likely to handle movies that are self-aware, that like both serious and silly films, don't mind the plot that much but the acting.
Men like comedy more and serious tones, but women more like mystery and crime genres.
8. Role
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I will do every other role from Director, including: Script Writer, Editor and Cameraman. I will rely on others, to use their confidence and skills in their acting, as it will be better than mine. This will allow me to improve my skills more generally, so that I have better chance on improving multiple skills at once. The Issue that I found last time was time scheduling for all of my actors to appear together at the same time, as people have been unreliable to appear when needed as they are too busy to do other things. I will try to solve this problem as early on as I can.
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9. Group
I rather be every role possible to show how capable I am and creative use and potential, but if needed and it will, is getting others as actors to do the work I can't do. As it is slightly hard to be a director, when I let my actors do whatever they want to do, which causes problems as it can influence my actions and leave opening for them to control over the situation, when you are trying to let the actors be in the flow and relaxed to act.
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Project Proposal Template
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Section 1 - Rationale
(Approximately 150 words)
This year so far, I have gained an understanding of how aftereffects work, and I am confident with using it. Examples of this can be seen from my sparks and particle systems, I can even use that effect for gas and smoke to do unique coloured patterns. I also know how to do lightning effects in ways that make it look interesting and to limit the number of effects by using opacity to save data. I did a music video, which helped me find out more about the distortions area where I found the wave warp and turbulent displace, which can give the look of a drug trip or dizziness. I think I got to the stage where I finally developed on my style of colour gradient, and preferred genre, being superheroes, which compliments my effects, interests and experience. Before I started this course, I didn't know what I would be doing and where it could lead afterwards, but I have gained an understanding of skills that can help me with my own interests and work. I prefer editing more now, as my potential has grown after finding my own style for how I want my films to look.
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(199 words)
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Section 2 – Project concept
(Approximately 200 words)
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I am aiming within this project is to improve the superhero genre. I believe most superhero films’ core component is the effects that makes the entire film stand up to make up for the art in comics, and I want to use my skills of editing to help fix this problem in my way for my own short film. This time I am going to do the same technique as rotoscope, having improved it by spending more time on my frames, and making better colour theory decisions. After many hours studying superhero cinematography and conventions, I have decided to stick with a theme of fire or energy-based attacks, using particle effects, which work well in fights. With this I can develop new techniques and ideas upon observing the footage, as I’ve been shown that I’m capable of coming up with ideas by not overusing effects. I used Premiere Pro to use the basic functions to help with lighting and colour grading, to help give the style I need, along with transitions to help the timing. Another function I can use is After Effects, which help me do the complicated functions like lightning effects. Feedback can guide and influence my actions, as it might help me direct more clearly and safely, helping me. I've already experienced some feedback to safely alter my work, meaning I know I'm doing something more suitable and effective, which is the best option to do.
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(233 words)
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Section 3 - Evaluation
(Approximately 150 words)
I intend to let my feedback direct what I’m doing throughout my project, as I need to have a second opinion, to help ground my thought process. I would also be constantly looking at the work that I’m producing, asking for opinions, whilst retaining a deciding role. With both looking at my work and me acting on feedback, I can form a plan, with basic blueprints to help me going forwards. If I ever incorporate feedback in my work, I will log the alternative idea that I am looking to use instead into a folder listed ‘deviations from the original’, as I will use those ideas if I prefer them. I would then plan how I would achieve these new ideas, coming up with plans if necessary, adding workload, but improving the quality of my project. I may limit these ideas to be stylistic choices rather than story focused or theme based to avoid too many major changes.
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(158 words)
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Proposal Version 2.0- FINAL PROPOSAL
1. Influences / Inspiration
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My inspiration and influences for wanting to work on films is general superhero content in the media, as I am a big fan of shows and movies like, CW Flash, Watchmen, Constantine and Hellboy. I've read comics, watched cartoons, shows, and movies for over a decade and have been impressed with the effects they've advanced with, especially Doctor Manhattan's transformation in Watchmen.
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I like the works of Mike Mignola, who was responsible of creating Hellboy with the reason being that I like his story Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham, for giving an eldritch element to make it more interesting than the usual Batman stories. Alan Moore has made many comics that were later adapted into movies like Watchmen and V for Vendetta, with me personally liking the Watchmen story with characters like Doctor Manhattan for their perspective on humanity and the world. I like Donny Cates because he made one of the best Venom comic events that help expand his lore to more than a simple alien, into a story of Gods and Cosmic Horror. Writers such as Scott Snyder, I love for their darker style of writing, producing material such as the DC event known as Dark Metal and The Batman Who Laughs. Todd McFarlane is another example because he made one of my favourite superheroes, Spawn, with the design, the premise, and personality being dark and tortured.
In terms of movie adaptations, in relation to the course, Zack Snyder has been instrumental in the creation of the DC Cinematic Universe, from Man of Steel to Justice League. I think this is the most interesting trilogy for it's plot and characters, and the colour gradient and cinematography, as I love the dark theme around it. Sam Raimi is another master of dark visuals, being responsible for creating the first Spider-Man trilogy and the Evil Dead Franchise. I like how he directs those movies, giving them a sense of actual fear. Finally, I like Tim Burton because for the many works like Mars Attacks! as he knows how to balance light humour and dark comedy.
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2. Project Concept
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The short film is just simply about the protagonist gaining his superpowers, and has to fight a man who is attacking him to survive. It suppose to serve as a origin scene, not really about him being a hero, just an understanding how he uses his powers and his first time experience fighting someone.
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My plot begins with a man walking around before getting hit on the head by a random object, giving him a sudden transformation with a cool glowing sequence around him. He is then suddenly jumped on by strangers who are skilled and superpowered and want to fight for no reason, willing to test his new powers. They have a big choreographed fight, leaving all these victims dead behind him. He then walks away smiling after what he has done, as a dark side has appeared out of him, with him no longer being heroic. The Superpower effect is fire/sparks/particle. I have experienced doing this before and therefore have confidence I can do this well.
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​3.Target Audience
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I already have experience with previous work on a survey based on superhero research, which at the time was also focused on target audience. I'm targeting Snyder fans and Watchers who are committed to watch every DC Movie, to get the dark look on screen, as they will be impressed by the colour gradient and cinematography, but any superhero and comics fans would be welcomed to watch it, and based on statics Males would like it more
As it states "that 61% of audience is males that are more popular with superhero movies than the 53% females"
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https://www.statista.com/statistics/1005437/comic-book-fans-us-by-gender/
I wanted to get in the link within DC Community, but was blocked by ads, not giving me the chance to access the actual page at all.
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But this shows clear proof of actual target audience idea that DC had for the Constantine show, and I like to vary around this statics too, by doing the age group of 16-27.
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4. Action Research (practical tests)
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We will test out Dollies, Sliders, and Camera Mounts, to get the best shots possible during filming.
Dynamic Camera Movement is a strong part in superhero movies, that's why I choose this certain hardware to focus on my skills, and software I'm focusing on both premiere pro and after effects. I also wanted to test the recently new effect Roto Brush 3.0.
I have experience of doing after effects with lightning and particles system, and whole video that was superhero themed. I have also tutorial videos for after effects how to get the right effect I want.
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26/01/2024: - I have finally tested out the roto brush, it seems to be automatically picking the area you want to scan and processed to be only one seen, but sometimes goes too far and pick stuff I don't want to be shown, and then have to pick the remove part of roto brush to remove parts from the scanned area to limit the place I want to be shown. After it's processed, it's shows the scanned area and black background behind it, this is useful to not bother using green screen, the only problem is how much footage I have to rescan and remove unnecessary parts each frame, which time wasting for 3 minutes worth of footage, which maybe an hour or 2 to do, unless we're burrowing footage from another video to use for 5 seconds, then it's worth it.
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29/01/2024: - I have went to after effects to do similar effects to sparks in the particle system to make a fire effect, my first version didn't go so well as my decisions made it look too fake as I used a polygon shape and it was too red, looking like it came from a retro video game, but the motion and position wasn't so bad. My second version was better, due to using proper footage as a background to reference how to use the effect in, making it look like actual fire with orange and yellow colours, no hint of red at all, and better positions, as it made it look like the man really was burning.
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5. Primary / Secondary data & theory
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I have experience making a survey about superheroes before, giving me research already of all the data what people think about superhero movies.
I've seen a channel, Film Riot, that has many tutorials, theories, tips, and tricks to help advise and guide what to do as a director or editor, giving me a lot of information to use from, as they have done a few tutorials based on superpowers before that I'm looking at right now, such as energy, lightning, Godzilla breath, Quicksilver superspeed, but some of theses are little bit outdated due to being around a decade ago. The Corridor Crew might be another thing to look at due to their videos having superhero themed content of effects and editing, to mimic what they can get in movies, but they rarely show how they do it and too complicated to understand, as it might be in a different software or not.
I intend to see how the directors I listed in Influences & Inspirations develop their styles and deeper insight into their films that I also listed, but especially looking at videos how superhero genre influenced cinema.
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6. Project workflow
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My workflow would be:
My first task will be to initially work on my ideas before formulating on my final idea, having to gather my feedback from teachers and classmates in order to make my film more widely appealing. I hope I can finish this relatively quickly, but this can turn out to be a much bigger task than I can realise at the beginning. With this advice in mind I will apply this to my storyline, building the plot to my film. My next task will be to spend time on writing my storyboard, as well as planning out my shot list, to help me decide my set design. This helps me plan out my time efficiently, in order to guide my actors through my script. Alongside planning out my filmography, I have to formulate my script to organise my plot, and finish my character profiles so I could begin casting for my actors. I began casting actors on the 07/02/2024, which finished quickly. After I have casted my actors, it was time for my script read-through before rehearsals. I decided against costumes because I didn't think it was important to the story and decided to include minimal props, only including a stick in the film. I wanted this to be more story focused rather than on props and items. The next stage will be filming, which can be done over 2 days. The week after I sought to fix the issues with reshoots which can fix these issues. The final task will be my editing, which can take place over a long period of time, starting with the rough editing stage, followed by polishing. I went on to develop my final edit during this and was happy with the outcome. I assume per 3 tasks in a row can be done at least in 2 weeks, overall with every task could be done in around about 12 weeks.
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7. Final plan
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I want to make a super hero themed short film based around on the efforts and works on my editing and effects from premiere pro and after effects.
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My Genre is Superhero, My Target Audience is 16-27 Males who are fan of either Superhero Films and/or Comics, especially Snyder fans, due to focusing on the intention of how I want my video is stylised to be and I think it's what they would like. My story is that the Protagonist is just doing his daily routine until he suddenly gets exposed to something out of this world, and transforms into a being capable of controlling fire, then gets jumped on by similar powered-individuals, he must proves his might to them that he has the right to be among them as another pyrokinetic, and in his own mind, to show superiority, as his Narcissism is growing like cancer when open to a new world of possibilities. I can make this due to my previous experience of a Superhero themed video I made recently.
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Character List:
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Bob (Protagonist) - The Main Hero, living in the basement of a stranger, acting as the parasite in the relationship, and not clearly the best of people. He wants to take a breather from the situation he is now in, that he's got no one he knows anymore, and wants to escape from reality. Until it all becomes completely different, and has everything he wants, thanks to a space rock thrown by competitors, as he must prove he has the right to exist. Once he is exposed to the rock, he has gained the ability to produce fire from the surface of his skin, only limited and sourced by hair to fuel it up, once he runs out, he would be powerless and extra vulnerable due to the subconscious perspective altering the body depending and relying on his powers.
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Mob (Antagonist) - The Villain of the story, he thinks he is an alien, as he is constantly tripping all the time, living among a secret society of likeminded individuals that has access to a resource that came from outer space which can benefit earth for either unlimited power or abilities beyond any mortal's comprehension. He has been sent to test a new recruit, to see if they are ready to be one of them, and he's too brutal to recruits all the time. His unique ability is to shoot energy beams from his fingers that looks like it is coming out of his palms, and must be out of his mind to work effectively, henceforth why he is insane all the time, as he must use his power in top condition. It is an reaction from the oil in the body that causes to become the energy, if he runs out of oil in his system, he will shrivel up and suffocate from the lack of oxygen as his throat is being crushed by it's own skin, then start to burn from the confusion in his own body trying to randomly activate his powers without the source of oil to power it up.
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Po Po (Deuteragonist/Narrator) - The Helper of the story (Propp's Theory Role). Everybody assumes he is a police officer out of shift every time they meet him, everything about him screams police officer, he hates it and loves it at the same time, giving him complicated relationships and feelings about it, it's eating him up inside and he can't do anything about it, because no matter what, if he's tells the truth they think he's telling a joke, as he must lie for his entire life as a fake police officer. He is a innocent bystander that observes and narrates the fight, what he assumes is him loosing his own mind, imagining the effects among between two angry homeless people. If he was ever exposed to the rock, he would have the ability to alter other's subconsciousness to believe even more that he is a police officer, sinking his own life even further.
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8. Role
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I want to focus on being editor and my editing skills, to show and improve on my area there, and value my expertise to be judged around that experience. I don't need others help to rely on for when it's my time to edit the footage I've been given, as not only do I enjoy editing, but developed skills how to use other softwares within others, for example, using photoshop to draw over frames and then using that in premiere pro to develop processed footage from those frames.
Acting as a editor I will have responsibilities such as being in charge of premiere pro and after effects, carrying the whole project for visual effects, as I am the reason to make it look good. For example, colour gradients, video transitions, audio editing, green screen, etc, etc.
Acting as a director, I have to control my actors, to make sure they are following the script and acting appropriately, as sometimes they improvise too much, and must control whether or not if it's good idea or not, since it can be chaotic, as I must guide them and keep order to performance. I also have to remind them what the next scene is and an idea what they doing in that scene, as I am also the scriptwriter.
Acting as a cameraman, I have to make sure the shots look good because of cinematography and meanings behind patterns of positions of the actors and where camera is pointing at, as you can easily make mistakes.
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9. Group
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If I was in a group, which I'm not, is that I'm the director of my own project and the editor of my own video, and everyone else would be the actors, I would have every role possible to situate everything else but the acting.
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I want to work with the people I can access quickly and early as possible, to get them as long as they have, professionals who knows what they want and aren't afraid of public humiliation, confident of their own skills. I see that there is alot of potential and possibilities that there will be problems using any kind of person, due to my directing skills, I'm not confident enough unlike them that I can't approach to them to situate why they shouldn't do that and reason for reshoots, as I don't want to have problems among my crew and let them do what they do as to improve their acting abilities and mindset in performance, never ruin their flow.
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