Textual Analysis of Influences On My Ideas

When I first started planning for my short film, I had a variety of ideas in mind as to what they would be about. But the more I thought about the,  the more that I realised that I had to narrow down the choices and decide what would be the best to create and something that would also be different. From my research, I understood that short films always have a simple story-line with an unexpected twist and that was something that I wanted to keep in mind throughout the process of planning. The influences on my ideas also came into focus, as I liked how they were created, but I wanted to put my own twist on them and my own ideas to fit the narrative and plot of my short film.

Throughout this piece, I am going to talk about my ideas and how the different types of forms had an influence on my ideas and how they helped me establish my final piece.

Two Main Idea's

The first idea was a mix between modern day setting and 1940s. One of the major influences for this idea was the Nicolas Sparks film The Longest Ride. Even though the film has two narratives running alongside one another, one set in modern day while another is sent in the 1940s and onwards. I took more interest in the old couple’s story through the way it was narrated and structured. I like the idea of the old man reminiscing about his wife as he only had the memories left of her.  The influence that this had on my idea was the that rather than my character telling a story, I wanted her to dream about it but in her dreams the reminiscing was of her younger days before the war started. The ending was different from the film as I pictured of having a man walking down the garden path, delivering the bad news. But while this is happening, she has her back to the window she can't see him. The focus of the last scene being on the door was a sign for what the audience already knew but the character didn't.

The Longest Ride (2015)

I have always had a particular interest in History, and this has appeared to be the dominant influence on both of my ideas. It can be seen in both pieces that the Second World War is my main setting for both of the films, alongside the 1920s for the second idea. Having the films being set in a different time period, compared to the modern day creates a different view and captures the audience in that time. From the beginning, I already knew that I didn’t want the setting of my film to be modern day, I wanted it to have a main  focus on the past as with anything that I write tends to have a focus there.

Any time period would have been good, but because this was a short film, it meant that I was limited in the terms of budget and I wanted to do something which I felt was the right choice. I settled on the Second World War as the main setting, not only was this influenced by History itself, but it was also two popular films which I had watched which linked to my second idea more than the first.  At the time, citizen were ordered to be home by the time they were ordered for the Blackout to occur, so that the city was in complete darkness, also, children were being sent to the countryside to escape the city for their own safety.

One of the first films that I watched was Narnia. At the beginning of the film, it is clear about the time period that it is set in. From their clothing and the mise-en-scene, automatically it resembles the 1940's. It later has the sound of airplanes and smoke being shown, later followed by a scene of the train station where the platforms are filled with hundreds of children who are saying goodbye to their parents and boarding the trains. This was an influence for the backdrop of the film, because I am limited to only five minutes for the short film, I decided that rather than dedicated a scene to this, I would add it in to something that my characters talk about and her bedroom empty of personal things to represent that she is one of these children that are being sent to the country side.

INSERT IMAGE FROM CHRONICLES OR NARNIA

The second film that I watched was Goodnight Mr Tom. This film is heavily focused on the war and children that are evacuated to the countryside to live with other families until it is safe enough for them to return to the cities. From watching this film, I gained a better understanding of what life was like at the time and how many coped with what was happening, but it was the how children adapted to the change of no longer living in the city, but now the countryside. Even though in my short film I will only be talking about the child leaving the city, watching the film has helped me in the way I picture how the scene can be acted out and the way that the emotion comes across.

INSERT IMAGE FROM GOODNIGHT MR TOM

The 1920s was another setting for this film. The reason for this is because of the fact that the book that she is reading at the beginning of the opening scenes is The Great Gatsby and I wanted this to be an impact on her dream and how everything was visualized. After watching the film, I was mainly influenced by the type of clothing that was worn, but also the fact that because of the type of film that I was making, the expressions and the acting would fit well.

INSERT IMAGE FROM GREAT GATSBY

I knew that I wanted to do a short film once I chose my brief, but after some research I decided that I wanted to create a silent film. When I watched some, I noted that even though they were silent, the use of orchestra music helped create emotion, whether the music was fast or slow paced, each scene took on a different type of emotion and this took the audience on a journey. Not having to hear speech created a different sort of viewing experience, compared to listening to the dialogue that is being said. If you was to listen to it in just complete silence, the audience would simply be watching the actors expressions and without the music it would mean that there wouldn't be an emotional connection as much as there would be with music.

Expressions are key in silent films. Because there is no speech, it is down to the actors to be as expressive as they can be in their performance as this is the only to get their message across as well as the fact that silent films have more of a focus on how actors express themselves and because of my idea, I thought that this would fit in will with the type of story that I want to tell. The different movements at the time silent films were being released was also something that I looked at and found interesting.