Ultra Short Film Proposal

What is your genre?

The genre for our ultra short film will be British Realism, with the sub genre being thriller. We want the audience to constantly sit on edge whilst also really relate to what we are showing them. We feel that the success of the film will stem from the emotional connection the audience has with the charcaters. We feel that our film is perhaps less about the plot line and more about the emotions that each character goes through. Each scene is based on the decisions that our characters make, which perhaps is the ultimate message we aim to pose the question to the audience about why we make certain choices in this world and what purpose do they carry. The film uses many elements of British Realism through its use of drugs, and the ease of obtaining them and further, by exploring the fragile relationship he has with his girlfriend, it shows the grit and struggles of life, which is something our audience would really relate too. 

Who are your characters?

Our characters consist of 1 female and 3 males. The main character will be a white younger male, addicted to drugs with a fragile relationship with his girlfriend. His girlfriend is a white, long brown haired younger woman, who is having an affair with another man, she is on edge with the relationship and can not understand the position she is in. Our drug dealer character will be a black male, slightly older then the other characters, he goes about his business playing as a side character. Lastly we have another male, similar height and build to our main character, which will only appear for one scene. He is the lover which simply knocks on the house door of the girlfriend.

What is your setting?

The setting for our film will be east London, present day, we wanted to film something that we as a production crew knew well, thus being able to reap all of the resources available to us. The genre has more decided our setting for us, we felt that to make a successful British Realism film we would need to make it very relatable for the audience which would be to set the film in present day. We will be using a house to mostly film, we need various locations such as the bedroom, front door, kitchen etc to film the majority of the indoor scenes. In terms of any filming from the outside we only need to use Seven kings park for the flashback scene, and the high road for when our character starts to walk.

What is your storyline?

The plot for our film will be a mans journey and struggle through drug addiction, and his fragile relationship with his girlfriend. He must decide who he will walk too, whether it will be his drug dealer or his girlfriend, however he does not know that she is cheating on him. We start the film with a fast paced montage, where we see our main character on drugs and the high he feels. He will then wake up on the side of the road, where he receives 2 texts one from his girlfriend and the other from his dealer. We will then use a motivated cut to go into a flashback scene of when he was happy in his relationship. As we see him walking down the road with his final destination unknown, there will be some crosscutting, between his girlfriend getting ready to go out and the dealer selling to other people. A man who we think is the main character then knocks on a door that his girlfriend opens, but it is not the main character as we reveal she is cheating on him. Instead he chose the pathway to more drugs as we enter the encounter scene, between him and his dealer. The film ends with a split screen on one side we have his girlfriend, crying distraught about her life decisions, and on the other side we have himself doing drugs and ruining his life. Whilst we will start the film at a fast pace the majority of the film will be a slow pace. This enables us to dwell on the emotions that our characters go through. Our main concept concentrates more on the decisions a person makes and why. Not only do we aim to portray the ease of drugs but also the little world/bubble that they have created for themselves, which is something that every viewer can relate too. 

What is your narrative ?

Our narrative will be a more non-linear format, whilst it does tell a story it wont be a standard sequenced film. We dont want to create confusion for the audience with the complexity of our film, but equally we want events to be scattered and we want to constantly show something new to the audience. Our hope is that this will keep them on edge and they can really connect emotionally with the characters created. We chose to have a flashback scene specifically to keep the film more non-linear, we felt that by scattering memories and keeping the film very ambiguous meant that the audience would be compelled by the emotional ties they have with the characters, to ultimately create a successful film. 

How will your film incorporate all the Section A techniques?

The opening of our film will consist of a fast paced montage, denoting the mind and acts of our main character under the influence of drugs. We want to really incorporate a fast paced editing rhythm within the montage to enhance the effect of drug use to the audience. The slow paced rhythms will happen when we release the characters real struggles, as he walks ambiguously to either the drug dealer or his girlfriend is when a very slow pace will happen. In terms of transitions, of course there will be cuts that run throughout, but we aim to use a variety of transitions eg fades and dissolves during the flashback scene. We aim to use the 180 degree rule, shot-reverse-shot and cutaways in one of our last scenes, the encounter scene. Here our main character will be sitting with the drug dealer in his room, talking and taking drugs.  

How will your film incorporate at least two of the Section B techniques? 

We will be using jump cuts during the scene where our main character will be walking almost endlessly down a road that will take him to either his dealer or his girlfriend. Through this scene we will use crosscutting and parallel editing techniques to show his girlfriend getting ready for what seems like a date night and to also show his drug dealer constantly on the phone, and selling to various people. We will further use a motivated cut during the first scene of the film, where our main character is going through his phone, we see him looking at his phone, then cut to the phone and then cut into a flashback scene where we see him and his girlfriend happy. Furthermore, we will cut to a soundtrack during the crosscutting scenes, they wont be particularly fast cuts to the beat but rather we want to have a slower song that can distinguish the cuts between the two scenes.