I recently a module called "Intro to Fiction." This module involved learning about the different types of drama and fiction pieces from serial dramas such as Lost and Breaking Bad to Episodic Serials such as EastEnders and Coronation Street. We were then tasked to come up with an idea for a 3-5 minute short film. After we came up with the ideas we then had to pitch our own ideas individually and the our lecturer would pick out the 4 best and most feasible ideas and then put us into teams to complete the project. we would have to plan, shoot then edit the chosen ideas.
My Idea was chosen to be made. The idea was a man is waiting for a bus, looking quite sorry for himself, and a woman walks into shot and he instantly falls for her. The woman then meets with a friend who hands her a bag before walking off. After a short time another man will enter the scene and mug the woman before making off with her bag. The original man sees this and gives chase, catches the mugger and gets the bag back, he will then discover the woman is a drug user and the bag is filled with drugs, this will be when what looks like a police officer will enter and the film will cut back to the woman before fading to black.
During the Pre-production segment of the project we did run into a few problems with the locations we wanted to film in, and because of this, we were held up a little from when we wanted to start shooting the film. Initially we had wanted to film at Manors Train Station in Newcastle, we had all the correct permissions and had already filmed once, but we decided the idea would be better if we shot at night, however for this we would need lights and Northern Rail denied this after stating that this would distract the drivers of the trains. We then found a bus stop on Great North Road in Newcastle and we made this our shoot location.
During Filming, we ran into a few major issues with the location and equipment, we did not have the correct lights that we wanted to use, this meant we had to shoot at a higher ISO and this made the footage look grainy. After getting back to the edit we then knew we had to reshoot so we rescheduled so we could have better lighting and a wider range of lenses to use. This time the shoot went off without a hitch.
After this we started to edit the film together. The only issue we had here was with some of the colour grade on some of the shots and we then fixed this within Final Cut Pro. We added a few effects to make the film look more profession such as the Wide Screen banner above and below the footage.
And here is the finished product.....
