Video University: Video University Forums: Filmmakers & Screenwriters: Short Drug-Themed Movie

VideoUniversity.com
Home	Free Library	Store
Free Catalog Please support VU by making your B&H purchases and links through this B&H ad. Doesn't cost a penny more.

See The New VU Postcard Catalog

To post in the forums see the Forum Guidelines.

Join or Renew Today.
New Benefits for all VU Members

Forum Guidelines and FAQ
Main Index	Search Posts
Who's Online	Log In

Home: Video University Forums: Filmmakers & Screenwriters:
Short Drug-Themed Movie

davidison
New User

Sep 13, 2004, 1:17 PM

Post #1 of 7 (2177 views)
Shortcut

Short Drug-Themed Movie	Can't Post

Hi all i just found this forum a few minutes ago, i'm 16 and making a (very) short film for school, i intend to base it in a dark and dirty room with crappy decor, starring a character who's on drugs (smack, coke etc). Very basic idea that i want to expand further over the next few weeks before finally filming it. So far all i have is the film ending with the character unconcious. Whether he/she's still alive or not is left a mystery... Very small scale kinda thing with a very low budget (as in nothing :p). Looking for some ideas on basically every aspect and general film-making hints. Set, lighting, and shot ideas would be useful (i think that's what the examiner's are looking for) right down to stuff like the clothingn the guy is wearing or potentially music. I'm looking to create something surreal and very disturbing, maybe in black and white, that's gunna make it stand out. All i have is a farily decent DV camera with tripod, and some apparently decent editing software the school has on their MAC computers.
Any help from you guys wuld be appreciated as i'm totally new to the whole film making thing...

Thanks - Dave - UK

videobear
Veteran

Sep 13, 2004, 2:00 PM

Post #2 of 7 (2169 views)
Shortcut

Re: [davidison] Short Drug-Themed Movie [In reply to]	Can't Post

Filmmaking is story-telling...with pictures.
What is the story you are telling? So far, you have a static scene (at least, that's all I gathered from your description).

Maybe the story is, "Taking drugs makes you feel good...but there's a price to pay." For this story, you could go "inside" the protagonist's mind. Maybe he sees himself not in a crappy, dirty room, but dancing with a beautiful lady in an elegant ballroom. Or flying through rainbow-tinted clouds. Or being hailed as the first astronaut to return from Mars. But then the dream turns nasty...

Or the story might be something else entirely. It's up to you. Try writing a short (maybe two to five pages) story about this guy. Who is he? Why did he take drugs? How did his life lead to this dead end? What does he think about it all? To help with the dialog, you might try writing it as a little play. Who says what? Does the main character speak? Or is there only a narrator? Or both, or neither. Maybe it's a silent film, with all the message conveyed in the images.

Once you have your story, then turn it into pictures with a storyboard. A storyboard is just a comic strip. Each panel shows a key shot in the movie. It's used to help you plan out your shots, and to see if the visual flow matches the story you intend to tell. The pictures don't have to be artist-quality. Just stick figures will do, if it helps you visualize the image you want to achieve.

It may help to make a storyboard "template". Turn a sheet of paper so the long side is top and bottom (landscape mode). Draw two rectangles on the sheet. Make them four inches wide and three inches tall. Include some space under them to write notes or dialog. Make as many copies of this sheet as you need, then fill in the rectangles with your key scenes.

Once you have your storyboard, you might re-write your story as a script. If there's not a lot of dialog, you can just write the lines under each scene in your storyboard.

For lighting ideas, check out some classic movies. Look for those in the "film noir" genre. They tend to be dark and gritty. Lots of shadows, mystery, suspense. Classic detective movies of the '30s and '40s are a good place to start. "The Shining" with Jack Nicholson is an excellent example of building suspense and horror with images.

Light shining up from beneath a face makes it look disturbing and menacing.
Low camera angles make the talent look larger than life and heroic. High angles tend to make them look weaker.
A very wide angle (fisheye) lens can produce visually disturbing distortions.
Very short cuts (one to two frames of a flash image) can be disturbing. Be careful of doing this too long, or with radical color changes (like a screen flashing red, then blue). This has been known to trigger seizures in susceptible viewers.

Regards,
Doug Graham
Panda Productions

Renny McCauley
User

Sep 13, 2004, 2:33 PM

Post #3 of 7 (2162 views)
Shortcut

Re: [videobear] Short Drug-Themed Movie [In reply to]	Can't Post

Doug's advice on writing a story is right on. When I was first shooting video, I wanted cool shots and a cool plot about drugs and violence and sex. But this doesn't get you very far if you're not thinking about why these things happen. It is far more interesting to see a movie about why people take drugs and kill each other. See Goodfellas for a good example of this. Henry Hill gets into the mafia because of the power and money involved. It was a pretty easy decision that he made early in life. Not until years later does he start paying for it. But he does, and that makes the movie really interesting.

Of course that's a pretty grand vision compared to what you want to shoot. Shorts are usually best with a simple plot. Story arc is important. It could be summed up like this. Things are good. Then something unpredicably bad happens. Then the protagonist tries to overcome the problem. At some point in time, all hope seems to vanish, then BAM! the protagonist figures out a clever way to overcome the problem. And then things are back to normal, but even better because this bad thing just got banished. Many books have been written about this, but I think it's better to figure it out on your own.

Good luck.
Renny

davidison
New User

Sep 13, 2004, 2:35 PM

Post #4 of 7 (2162 views)
Shortcut

Re: [videobear] Short Drug-Themed Movie [In reply to]	Can't Post

Wow thanks a lot that's really useful!!! =] i guess i had the wrong idea about what i wanted to do, sort of forgot the point you opened with there bear in all my creativity Tongue

! i'll get back on here when i've got things a little further.

Dave

(This post was edited by davidison on Sep 13, 2004, 4:14 PM)

davidison
New User

Sep 13, 2004, 5:34 PM

Post #5 of 7 (2151 views)
Shortcut

Re: [Renny McCauley] Short Drug-Themed Movie [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks Renny, a little stuck on what my story is going to be now though : /

Wisemanbob
New User

Sep 13, 2004, 6:16 PM

Post #6 of 7 (2146 views)
Shortcut

Re: [davidison] Short Drug-Themed Movie [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hey Dave,

I think VideoBear has successfully covered all the major aspects of generating a film production; however, I disagree with you criticising your way of developing this film. Firstly, it is incredibly difficult for many script writers to instantly create a decent storyline: you've already jumped the first and arguably the hardest hurdle, with just your fundamental ideas.

For additional inspiration, I agree with VideoBear, again, traditional Film Noirs have a very gritty, dystopian and dark appeal to them, due to their massive restriction of budget (your situation exactly) due to the war and the lack of innovative sets that they had (again, your position exactly). Budget certainly shouldn't be an issue, you have actors (speaking generically), a camera, even a tripod! and you personally have the motivation to write a genuinely interesting script - because you have to, for media!

If you want your film to appear surreal, as you said, you should watch (as I think VideoBear also said) various cult films, with cunning and subtle camera motions - often simple canted shots, with a black and white affect can be used to create decent looking original shots. Kubrick boasts a unique style in all his films, and more contemporary directors, such as Tarantino, attempt to do the same thing.

Your idea is good; it's just a matter of building flesh upon your already standing skeleton. Think of your subjects and/or protagonists - "Who are they?" "Why are they there?" and so on. Or, alternatively use the life of your subject depicted in your short-film as a microcosm for many other drug-addicts: For example, don't introduce the character at all, make him/her a John/Jane Doe type character, and just show their situation during one moment of drug abuse. This gives you the ability to control your personal attitude and opinions of the character, i.e. sympathy, disrespect, etc.

The mise en scene is vitally important in creating an atmospheric feel to your film. You should consider, depending on your attitude, a place that would generate some form of emotion with the audience: For example, horror, shock or disgust.

In conclusion: Just keep building and building upon your ideas.

Good luck,
Alex (Wisemanbob) - UK

(This post was edited by Wisemanbob on Sep 13, 2004, 6:52 PM)

Bill Kinkle
Veteran

Sep 27, 2004, 10:02 PM

Post #7 of 7 (2047 views)
Shortcut

Re: [davidison] Short Drug-Themed Movie [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi Dave, you know you could take a different take on "drugs" such as the failing "war on drugs" and the impact it has had on the world and the economy. There are a bunch of sites out there on the topic and some pretty interesting info actually...just a thought.