Production Meeting

we had a production meeting with our group discussing which roles each individual will take. It is important that everyone sticks to their own role.

Smile- Character breakdown

Charlie

• 16 year old white boy
• from London
• goes to college
• nerdy/geeky
• nervous/shy
• has only one friend
• has a crush on the popular girl
• studies, maths, chemistry and biology
• an only child living with his mum and dad
• big imagination

Max:

• 16 year old white boy
• geeky, but not as geeky as his friend Charlie
• from London
• goes to college
• studies P.E, maths and english
• lies about previous experiences
• lives at home with dad, mum, older brother and younger sister

Gabriella:

• 16 years old
• from London
• goes to same college as max and charlie
• most popular girl in school
• charlie’s crush
• confident but ditsy
• has a best friend called sophie
• lives at home with just her dad
• studies P.E, photography and art

Stereotypes of Our Characters

Girlfriend Geek Smartly Dressed/Good Looking Jock

In our film 'Smile' we have decided to stick with the conventional exaggerated stereotypes typical used in other films. This is to stick with our comical humour which is used throughout our film.

Smile - Our New Idea

Group Meeting

We had a group meeting where we discussed our ideas and scenes. We came to the conclusion that there was just to many story strands to narrow down into a short 5 minute film. We then decided to take the basic idea of a boy trying to get a girl and take it into a new direction.

This is the scene list we came up with

Opening Scene:

Open to Charlie riding his bike to college.

Scene-1

Max and Charlie are sitting in a room; Charlie is staring out window at Gabriella. Mean whilst Max’s voice is in the background trying to have a conversation with him. Charlie zones out (Imagines him approaching Gabriella, dipping her and giving her a kiss). Max hits Charlie back to reality telling him to stop staring and that he could never get a girl like Gabriella.

Scene-2

Max and Charlie walk out room and are standing outside, they hear the girl telling her friend how her and her boyfriend just broke up, and starts to describe her perfect boy. Charlie and max over hear the conversation and Charlie begins to hatch his plan.

(smartly dressed, Good looking, nice body, cool hat, laid back personality, charming & most importantly an amazing smile and someone who makes her smile) – Ideal man

Scene-3 (Montage)

Charlie goes out to try and achieve the girls ideal man, with max’s help.

Scene-4

Charlie finally gets everything together, approaches girl with a cheesy chat up line dressed in the way she had described her ideal man. Girl laughs, rejects Charlie and walks away.

Scene-5

Next day Charlie comes back, back in his normal clothes. Girl spots Charlie and realizes how hard he tried to impress her. Gabriella smiles at Charlie and scene fades out.

We decided on the title Smile because the girls ideal guy is just someone who can make her smile and smiles at her too. We also felt it gave a warm feeling to the film and it was a nice simple title.

Characters

Charlie:

- Nerdy/geeky/unpopular

- Middle class

- Book smart

Max:

- Not as geeky as Charlie, but still geeky.

- Slightly more sociable

- Middle class

Gabriella:

- The girl Charlie admires

- Popular

- Beautiful

Sophie:

- Gabriella's best friend

Our film

This was our first main idea for our short film:

Scene List
Scene 1. Int
Charlie being beaten up in a dark room by security

Scene 2. Ext
Charlie sitting outside, expensive car pulls up, Gabriella gets out car with boyfriend, kisses him goodbye and walks into collge.

Scene 3. Int
Charlie is in the library (doing maths homework) and staring at Gabriella. Max is sitting across the table and notices Charlie staring. Speeks to Charlie and tells him hell help him to get Gabriella in exchange for help in school looking at books and talking about the girl he has seen, Max tells him the only way he has a chance is by making money. They then spot a book “counting cards”
- Charlie helps with Max’s maths homework, in return for Max to teach him about girls.

Scene 4. Int
Fast forward cross cutting of Charlie learning how to count cards, then playing and then racking in chips - montage

Scene 5. Int
Charlie is playing a game of cards in a dark room, with 3 others, plus the dealer. voice over of him counting the cards, he’s then grabbed on the shoulder and voice over stops. He is taken into a room.

Scene 6. Int
Charlie being beaten up in a dark room by security (Scene 1)

Name
We came up with the title Five Card Charlie, by researching Blackjack slang and terms used in the game. We found these on Ildado.com. Five Card Charlie in blackjack terms is a blackjack rule variation where if you get 5 cards without busting, you win that hand. We picked this particular term out of all the others because we thought it had a good ring to it and we imagined it would be a catchy film title which related well with out film.

Characters
- Charlie: main character, nerd/geek, unconfident, lower/middle class, from London
- Max: Charlie’s best friend, not as geeky as Charlie, can still get girls
- Gabriella: girl Charlie admires

Exploring ideas

Genre - horror

A girl is home alone making dinner for herself. She starts hearing funny noises, she calls her mum- no answer. She goes to the bathroom and finds writing on the mirror she wipes her eyes and its gone. calls her mum again- no answer. She goes back downstairs to find a knife in the lettuce. She looks into a mirror and sees a reflection of herself with a man in a mask standing next to her.

Shame remake

A girl who has a unusual feature- something her mother is ashamed of. We hear her voice over to create suspense.

starting research

Three directors whose film styles i like:

Guy Ritchie

A British film director of films such as Lock, stock & Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Snatch (2000) He was a huge contributor to the British Gangster Genre.

Quentin Tarantino

An American director of films such as Kill Bill (2003), Death Proof (2007), Jackie brown (1997) but my favourite movie he directed would defiantly be Pulp fiction (1994). This movie has different stories of peoples lives merge in one. I loved this movie full of action and suspense.

Steven Spielberg

An American Director of films such as Jaws, E.T, Saving Private Ryan, Schindlers List. He has directed some of the most successful films in their time. Often know as the 'Peter Pan' of the film industry, his films are all based around family and children- ironically not having children of his own. My favourite film of his would be E.T it made my cry and laugh.

what is an 'auteur'?

A film maker who has a distinct personal style. An example of this would be Alfred Hitchcock, as he uses the same visual style and type of cinematography in each of his films. He also used repeated themes in his movies. e.g the wrong man falsely accused.

what is 'cinema Verite'?

a style of documentary film making that appears to be realistic- showing ordinary people in ordinary situations speaking in normal dialogue. An example of this style would be from the recent 'Paranormal Activity' this film was shot in a naturalistic documental way that promtes realism

what is an 'avant- garde film'?

experimental film or experimental cinema, describes a range of filmmaking styles that are generally quite different from, and often opposed to, the practices of mainstream commercial and documentary filmmaking, often go against the conventions of film making. The word avant-garde is french for 'ahead of the crowd' - but we would now use the word 'cutting edge'

what is 'film noir'?

A Genre/ type of film, mainly produced in Hollywood during 1940s and 1950s, which depicts 'dark' themes. particularly those that emphasise cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. An

what is the 'french new wave' about?

was a blanket term influenced by Italian Neorealism and classical Hollywood cinema. coined by critics for a group of French film makers of the late 1950's and 1960s.

LOOKING INTO SHORT FILMS.

This film is my favourite short film we have found/seen. From the start of this film we are aware that the genre is action and at the end of the short film it could be placed in another genre category- Comedy, the pace of the movement and editing is fast and the camera is mostly handheld with 3 shot that are static this creates tension and realism.

The Black Hole was made in 2008, by British directors 'Phil and Olly'. The story is of a sleep-deprived office worker, who accidentally discovers a black hole, in a piece of paper. He then uses it to steal from a candy machine, and then greed gets the better of him when he tries to steal money from the office's safe.If I were to put The Black Hole into a genre, it would have to be comedy. This is because it is funny at the end when they only character attempts to take his greed further. What I like about this short film is the use of colour and sound. The colour is very grey and blue, which is trying to make office life seem incredibly dull. The use of sound adds to the story, and to the dullness of the office; there is no music, just continued office noises such as photocopiers and scanners.

Another short film of three minutes. Here a shy girl meets a shy boy- and find a new way of expressing their affection. Again set in a boring office. however the music and the colourful post-it notes contrast with this dullness. Like the clip above this short film has no dialogue- this is an effective way to literally show the audience what is happening.




' sometimes little questions need big answers' this short film two and a-half minutes is a comedy. This film, unlike the other two has dialogue. Although funny from the beginning the punchline is only revealed in the last line. This clip had good comments and reviews on it.