Narrative theory and my film treatment

Theories that apply to my short films are:

Propp
Todorov
Levi-Strauss

Propp identified a theory about characters and actions as narrative functions.

Characters, according to Propp, have a narrative function; they provide a structure for the text.

Characters that perform a function

The Hero – a character that seeks something

The Villain – who opposes or actively blocks the hero’s quest

The Donor – who provides an object with magical properties

The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message

The False Hero – who disrupts the hero’s success by making false claims

The Helper – who aids the hero

The Princess – acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain’s plots

Her Father – who acts to reward the hero for his effort

This theory applies to the story line of my short film as there are a significant amount of characters which match this character theory.

The Donor - The drug dealer
The dispatcher - Elizabeth
The false hero - The girl who offers her drugs (she gives her drug in order to mak Elizabeth feel better)
Her father- The reward given is the lesson she learns, he teaches this with consequences


http://www.adamranson.plus.com/Propp.htm

Ideas for final short film

Our short film is based on the film 'The hangover'. The film will have 4 main characters whom have boring lives and have a crazy night out and not remembering the night before as well as they should. An issue our film would like to touch on is trust within families.

There are 3 main characters: The main girl, her mother and her younger brother.

There are 2-3 locations (house, club)

Our theme that runs from beginning to end is 'Don't take advantage of the situation you are put in'.

This idea is unique, and touches upon the issue of trust being broken in a family.

Draft Script for short film

A break down of each scene:

Scene 1: Father in his office calling his daughter to explain that he will be away on business overnight.

Scene 2: Daughter sends out mass message on social networking site inviting everyone from her school over for a house party.

Scene 3: Party begins and she frantically runs around making sure nothing gets damaged, 'Friend' takes her into bathroom and pressures her into taking drugs.

Scene 4: Girl wakes up with a trashed house, and no time to clean it up before school.

Scene 5: Girl goes back to school but realises nobody is noticing her or speaking to her, nothing has changed.

Scene 6: Dad has seen the state of the house and calls from the office, (repeat of scene 1) and tells his daughter how disappointed he is.This is our first draft, we will be adding more as we develop our ideas and begin to create our short film.

Scene1

Dad: Hi Darling. Daughter: Hey DadDad: Look, I have a business trip this weekend. I will only be gone a day or two, so there is nothing to worry-Daughter: (Interrupts) So i’ll be home alone all weekend?!Dad: Yes! But this doesn't mean you can do whatever you like. I'm trusting you to be mature and grown up. I'm leaving you with a responsibility, remember that.Daughter: I am grown up dad! Dad: please don't disappoint me. Show me that your mature and trust worthy. Ok?Daughter: You can trust me dad!Dad: I'm going to give you a call later on. Theres money on the microwave for you to grab some food for dinner. Love you sweetie.Daughter: Ok thanks dad, love you too!

Scene 2

Daughter sends out mass message on social networking site inviting everyone from her school over for a house party.

Scene 3

Guests begin to arrive through the front door and girl greets them.

Guests:-Thanks for invite, let's get this party started!

-Hey babe! How's it going?

Girl: Hi guys, come in! straight through to the living room.

(The night progresses and the girl frantically runs around trying to tidy up.)

Girl: Don't touch that!

Omg, who's vomit is that?!

Get out of my dad's room!!!

(After keeping a clear eye on what's going on in her house, her friend calls her into the toilet)

Guest: babe, come in here.

Girl: What's that?

Guest: Just try it, it's really good.

Girl: No way! You shouldn't be doing it, especially in my house.

Guest: Stop worrying, it's good stuff. It'll make you feel, you'll feel great. Do it with me.

(Girl goes to take the drug)

(The girl walks around her house hallucinating)

Scene 4

(Girl wakes up to a messy house, full of drunk and passed out friends. When the girl wakes up, she doesn't remember what happened the night before. She orders everyone to leave immediately.)

Girl: Everyone get out. You've gotta go!

Scene 5

Girl walks up to the group of girls standing by the doors

Girl: Hey! I cant remember a thing from last night.. did you have a good time? we should have more parties like that.

(nobody acknowledges her presence)

Scene 6

(Dad calls girl from office)

Girl: Hi dad, I just got home from school

Dad: Oh, to the house you completely trashed while I was away? You could've bothered cleaning it up. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?

Girl: I can explain, I promise that's not what I had planned! everything just got out of control..

Dad: You know what, (name), Save it. I trusted you to be a responsible and be an adult in this situation. With your mother not around this is the last thing I expected of you. Im not even angry, I'm purely disappointed in you. You've taken advantage of the situation and I can't begin to think how you will earn my trust AGAIN.

Treatment: Short film

TREATMENT

Storyline: Young girl is trusted by her father to take care of herself and the house while he handles business. The girl takes advantage of her trusted position and throws a house party with the intention of impressing her friends and things go terribly wrong. At her party the girl is frustrated by everyone messing up her house and is pressured into taking drugs by a 'friend' with the promise of calming her down. When she goes back to school the next day she realises she still goes unnoticed by everyone and on her fathers return has to face the consequences.

Location: Our short film will take place in a variety of locations for each scene. The main location is the house where the party takes place in the film. We will also use locations such as an office and a school entrance for a certain part of the short film. 

Props + costume: The props used will play a part in the short film, either to build the scene or make it seem realistic. Costumes will be worn to suit the occasion, for example if it is filmed in school, the characters will wear a uniform to make it seem natural.

- Alcohol/Drugs(artificial)/Cigarrettes

- School Uniform

- Laptop

- Food/Drink

Preliminary task ideas (Advertisement)

In order for me to fully understand short films and the making of them, my preliminary task was to create an advert for a product I made. The idea me and my group came up with was a commercial for a hair product. Our product is called 'Glamhairous'. Whilst filming our advert, we were able to practice different camera shots/ angles for the making of our actual short film. 

Our advertisement consisted of:

1-2 main characters

1 location (was filmed in my school.)

Different shots/angles

Effects (split screens)

Voice overs/music

Props, crops, costumes

Deconstruction of short films

Sold by Nadia Attia

Synopsis: Jon Smith has all but given up on his dreams and aspirations. It's only through a strange shopping channel experience that he finally buys into the notion of happiness.

The idea for Sold was born on a lazy afternoon in front of cable at a friends' house, and was partly inspired by the film 'Napoleon Dynamite' and the director Michel Gondry. It was shot on a HDV, with a great crew & cast (including Trevor from 'Trev & Simon' fame!) and it was partly shot at Ealing Studios on a set built from salvaged materials!

*This film was written for a course at The Met Film School. 

*This film was chosen by the Film Network team through our online submissions process.

*This film is included in the film catalogue under the following themes:

Love/Hate

Outsiders

Strange Happenings

Message of the film:

-Money is not able to buy you happiness

-Take opportunities

-Don't hesitate

-Modern fairytale 

Themes:

-Desires

-Commodities

-Be active

Characters: (4)

-Jon Smith, protagonist young man

-Dee, a girl (next door neighbour who wants to borrow the ladle)

-TV presenter selling the ladles on the television shopping channel

-Wife and girl who are featured on the TV shopping channel

Location: (3)

-Studio apartment

-Sitting room/bedroom

Length of the film:

-5-8 mins


For the Love of by Chris Sheriff
Message:
Immigrants trying to make a better life or future for themselves.
Themes: 
Immigration
Characters: 
Male protagonist who is the immigrant worker and landlord.
Location: 
House, work place + streets.
Length: 
5-8 mins.


Dipper by P.J.Harling
Message: 
'Don't just a book by it's cover'
Themes:
Judging people on appearance.
Characters:
Woman, male protagonist, police man and ladies husband.
Location:
Park, alley and highstreet.
Length:
8-10 mins.
When deconstructing each short films by Nadia Attia, Chris Sheriff and P.J.Harling, I realised that there are specific conventions that each films includes. Each of these films have a maximum of 3/4 characters and locations used within.