Planning a short film starts with inspiration. First we looked online at various different short films on ‘Future Shorts. This allowed us to explore and understand the codes and conventions of a short film, whilst retaining different ideas for a narrative. We found that when researching the structure of a short film, it is set up of three main areas:

 

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From this, we were able to see the criteria a short film should follow in order to be successful. We also researched various film theorists and the different ways they incorporate their ideas into films. We implemented Todorov’s theory to a certain extent taking into account the equilibrium, disruption, recognition and attempts to repair, however we didn’t use to new equilibrium because we wanted to leave the audience on a negative note, making them sympathise with both protagonists and hitting them hard with the reality of the devastation the bombings had on families.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had to think about the genre and the codes and conventions of this. We wanted to create a drama, due to this genre allowing the audience to relate to it more so than that of a paranormal horror for example. We wanted to create a take on real life in order to educate our audience on the reality of the world we are living in and the fact that there are not always happy endings.

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Audience is a crucial area when planning a short film and we had to make sure the criteria and themes within our narrative were appropriate and would relate to our chosen audience. Our narrative is an emotive but educational take on the London 7/7 Bombings through the perspective of a teenage couple. We therefore decided to make our certification 12A and our target audience 12-25. There was much debate as to whether our minimum target audience of 12 was suitable for our film. This was because there is the theme of terrorism which may be troubling for younger viewers. However, aiming it at a 12 year old audience for an educational purpose of leaning about their history is a way of teaching them about their society. As well ad this, the two main protagonists are a mere 6 years older than them, therefore the 12 year old audience may not be able to fully relate to the characters but have a vison on the relationships they will have in the future. We decided to make our maximum age group 25 years of age because this is an age where people start to think about family hood in more depth and therefore they may be able to relate to our protagonist and the struggles they go through for family hood. We decided to not go any higher than 25 because these ages may not be able to relate to the protagonists sue to the big age gap between them therefore it will cause less immersion and enjoyment towards our film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due to the fact our film is a zeitgeist, we had to do a lot of research for the times. Our film is based on the London 7/7 Bombings, therefore we had to make sure ever detail and subtle nuance related to the times. This meant taking into account the clothes they were wearing. In 2005 many of the clothes we have now were not in  in fashion or even a trend of the time. Therefore we decided to dress our actors in simple clothes that didn’t have any branding in order to aid the realism. As well as this, we had to make sure if we were exemplifying any dates or times for example a newspaper or a date on a phone, they needed to match the time in which the event occurred. In our piece, phones are a crucial prop because they are the only thing connecting out two protagonists when they are apart and at the end, the phone is the prop that verifies to our male protagonist that Olivia was on the bus that exploded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The characters within a film must be relatable to your target audience so the audience can sympathise or feel strong emotion towards them when watching the film. Our story line is very controversial and emotive, therefore we wanted to portray a couple to aid the tragedy. However, instead of creating a madly in love couple, we wanted the boy within the relationship to not appreciate the female until it was too late. This idea of redemption the male seeks makes his lovers death more heart breaking because the audience know they could start a life together with their child but it is now too late.

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By Tamia Mullaney-Downer