Help me start a short film for a college application, please =|.

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ninja4hire

New member
Hey guys, this is my first post (just thought I'd let ya know), anyway, I'm a bit stressed because I *need* to make a short film in 2 weeks for my USC Application. I've come up with various stories but they never play out or they're always used by someone else. The film needs to demonstrate my creative talent, it needs to show that I'm a good storyteller and that I know how to convey emotions on screen, the film also has to be 5 minutes or less. I'm not asking for a full on script or anything from you guys, I'm just asking for help to get started, like ideas I guess. Thanks in advance!
 
Turn your limitations into inspiration:
- what actors do you have? (and what sorts of character would they suit? a lot of very amateur actors can still be great playing certain character types)
- What costumes do you have? (that would fit those actors) - they may also suggest certain characters
- What locations do you have?
- What props do you have?
List them all, and start drawing connections between possible characters, locations and props and possible dramatic events. A joint brainstorming session with other creative types may be a good idea.

Once you realise that it would be kinda cool if character x was doing x in location x when x happens, then you have an plot structure.
 
Simple.

Make it about YOU and your application video :)

This way, you rely on yourself... and the room you're in - and minimal props.

You are are the main actor - shoot yourself - use a locked off camera ;)

Then follow yourself making notes, trashing them, getting stressed, time wasting, surfing, panicking etc...

The narrative pace gets more frenzied (as does the editing) as the 'timer' counts down...

When it reaches zero - turn to the camera and address it directly (thus you're knowingly/intentionally breaking the 4th wall) and ask the USC panel if you'll be seeing any of them when the course starts... ie 'was this enough to get me in... and show my creativity?'

Then, if it works, you owe me a virtual beer - and also hope this thread isn't ever discovered ;)
 
I actually have a pretty good amount of resources, but I only have 2 weeks to come up with something, film it, and edit. Not to mention the other things I have to do for the application.
 
Haha, I don't know if I'd risk asking that at the end, the admissions are pretty competitive after all and all the other accepted films I've seen are decent.
 
I think I got an idea, it's called "The Red Balloon" or whatever, if you guys can come up with a better one that'd be pretty cool.

Basically It's about a boy who is sad and one day while he is sitting alone at a park, an elderly man see's the depressed boy and gives him a red balloon (or the red balloon can come from nowhere and float down to the kid) the boy is uplifted by this and becomes closely attached to the balloon and acts like the balloon is his best friend. Now I'm coming along with the story as I type so there are two approaches I just thought of:

1. The boy could hold onto the balloon until adulthood until he's satisfied and let the balloon go to find another child to brightens their day.

or

2. The boy and his red balloon comes across girl with a blue balloon and they start playing and become best friends and eventually let the balloons go together and end the film on the balloons floating away.

So this is my idea. It'll be under 5 minutes, I think t'll be pretty easy to do, there's no dialogue either. You guys may suggest different approaches if you'd like.

Does this sound like a good idea?
 
The idea is fine... but stuff like this hangs on acting skills (plus direction/cinematography/editing etc) as what you see in your mind's eye isn't necessarily as easy to achieve as you might think.

That's why I suggested avoiding actors and using yourself as a resource :)

So, on option 01 how would you show his transition to adulthood... how many set-ups would you use and what would be shown (other than replacing the child with a teen or adult) - option 2 will involve getting 2 child actors.

Really, the downfall of many (many) projects is often the bad acting... just dropping dialogue doesn't make acting easier, it often makes it harder - coaxing the right facial expression as well as having the right body position (for lighting) or getting something on cue can be very difficult with children.

If you feel confident about both the ideas, go for it :)
 
Thanks for that info, the acting *will* definitely be harder. I think I'll do option 2 because I do know an actual child actor so I could ask them. Finding people that look somewhat similar for option 1 would be tougher, just thought of that when you mentioned it. I don't have the time for that anyways. Thanks for the help!
 
clang said:
Turn your limitations into inspiration:
- what actors do you have? (and what sorts of character would they suit? a lot of very amateur actors can still be great playing certain character types)
- What costumes do you have? (that would fit those actors) - they may also suggest certain characters
- What locations do you have?
- What props do you have?
List them all, and start drawing connections between possible characters, locations and props and possible dramatic events. A joint brainstorming session with other creative types may be a good idea.

Once you realise that it would be kinda cool if character x was doing x in location x when x happens, then you have an plot structure.
Click to expand...

I'll agree with that.
 
Nice job, ninja. I watched it with the sound off, and it kept my interest. A little on the long side, and the ending was a tad quaint, but that's life. You violated a couple "rules" throughout that broke my concentration on the film - particularly the 180-degree rule. And I don't know if there was dialogue - looked like a few lines were spoken toward the end, but it worked just as well not hearing it. Good luck with the application, man.
 
Eric Boellner said:
Nice job, ninja. I watched it with the sound off, and it kept my interest. A little on the long side, and the ending was a tad quaint, but that's life. You violated a couple "rules" throughout that broke my concentration on the film - particularly the 180-degree rule. And I don't know if there was dialogue - looked like a few lines were spoken toward the end, but it worked just as well not hearing it. Good luck with the application, man.
Click to expand...

I did notice that I broke the 180 degree rule. There was no dialogue, just mouths moving. Thanks!
 
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