Week 3 - Short films

Hi,

This week in the lecture Josh taught us about the three most important things to remember when writing our scripts and making our films:
- Write what you know
- Know your character
- Have a solid structure

The first two short films we watched this week were for BMW and made by a variety of successful directors. The running theme in all the short films was a car chase, getting from A to B. I'm not sure if the filmmaker of Powder Keg has much experience in this situation, but the second film starring Madonna was made by her then-husband so I imagine he is writing exactly what he knows.

Film 1 - Powder Keg (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0285930/)

Stellan Skarsgard,  Clive Owen

As is common with short films there is one obstacle, one confrontation and one resolution. The film jumps right into the action, with the audience witnessing the exact same thing as the central character (a war photographer played by Stellan Skarsgard). As the movie is short, the conversations and monologues in the film teach us about the characters and show the audience what the character has learnt about himself. The opening dialogue is in Spanish so the audience knows roughly where the film is set (though it is one of the most common languages in the world and I had and still have difficulty figuring out what country it is in. IMDB tells me it's Neuvo Colon. Okay that doesn't help.) At the end of the film the audience finds out that Skarsgard's character won the Pulitzer Prize (presumably post-homously). Although the audience, and the stars appear to be quite proud of him the film maker manages to convey to the audience that life isn't about career success and material things but about the choices you make along the way.

I thought it was really moving and really sad, and now I'm going to go google the Braille that was on the dog tag.

Film 2 - Star (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286151/)

Madonna, Clive Owen

This is one of those films where the lead character isn't decent, and you really want something bad to happen to them. Madonna's character is described by Clive Owen, and then her behaviour backs up his description. As it is a really short film this saves time so they can jump right into the action.

The film is resolved when Madonna gets to the venue of her concert, not before she is thrown all through the car and falls onto the red carpet and pees herself in front of the paparazzi.

The audience is satisfied as this evil character is taken down a notch. I liked Powder Keg better, I'm not a fan of Madonna and Powder Keg was a lot more powerful I believe. Star did seem a lot more like an ad though, so I think Guy Ritchie took the brief a bit more literally when directing it.


Film 3 - The Last Three Minutes

This was my favourite of the films we watched this week. It showed a man's life through his dying eyes, and it was extremely touching. It begins with a young energetic man leaving a building, then cuts to the janitor who suddenly has a heart attack. He drops a crystal (this reminded me so much of Citizen Kane) and holds it up to his eyes. It travels back in time. His wife leaving him, him and his wife in bed, him and his wife on the beach, him in war with a friend dying, him playing baseball as a child and various memories as an infant and baby. The flash back ends with his father giving him the crystal just after birth.

It cuts back to modern times as the old man dies.

Films like this always make me sad. It is showing us that life is so fast and over so quickly but we manage to fit so much into our lives. I'm not sure if the film maker intended me to feel this way, but it showed me that everyone has a story. I always wonder about old people and people working in solitary jobs (like a janitor) and I wonder where they come from and how they go to where they are.

Overall I really enjoyed the three short films this week and like Josh's lectures I remember the awesome beginning, the awesome end and not much about the boring bit in the middle.

The end.