Need an Idea, Quick!

V

vertigo

Active member
So it's Thursday night here and I've got until Friday morning to think of an idea for a 30-second to one minute short film. It's for a film school I am in and we will be shooting it on Saturday. Here are the specifications:

1) Must be done in a long take. No editing.
2) Black and white, no sound, no dialogue.

I'm drawing a blank, I have already secured a location in the back of a restaurant, here is a description:

It's run down and gritty (dumpsters, etc.). Fifty feet behind the restaurant there is a barbed wire fence that seperates the parking lot from pipes and a water resevoir. There is also a highway that passes above a portion of the parking lot. I wish I had a picture. Anyway, I don't HAVE to use this location.

Please help with ANY ideas!
 
How bout a POV of a Rat or better yet a cockroach. Their life in 30 secs. Have them roam around the garbage, talking to crackheads along the alley, eating some left over flaming hot cheetos, taking a dump, biting some random kid on the leg, and finally have it get stomp on in the end by a car. That can all be done in one take.

Man, I need a women. :)
 
you can have have the lead actor either morph into a roach or have the roach be his pet and hes talking to it. :undecided
 
I picture an actor in a giant roach costume, maybe some brown spandex and paper mache legs. DO IT. DO IT. DO IT. :evil:
 
Hey that's what you get asking for a quick idea. He should be a roach smoking a roach! :evil:



PS: Kids just say no to drugs!
 
What about all the Lumiere Bros. films? Those should make for some good inspiration for this sort of project.
 
Given your location, have Swamp Thing emerge from the reservoir and climb into the dumpster looking for food. An unsuspecting restaurant employee comes out to the dumpster and... gives Swamp Thing a sandwich.
 
This would be tricky in one take....

2 actors, 1 prop

Actor A, employee with a name badge.
Actor B, boss.
Prop, a broom or something with a wig on it, maybe a paper face, nothing fancy.

Premise, the employee is yelling at what the audience thinks is his real boss but in the end it's simply an employee venting anger at a prop and getting busted by the 'real' target (the boss).

Shot starts on employee yelling to the top of his lungs (no sound but it's very obvious), camera swings to the "real" boss actor, do this a few times for setup, then stay on the employee for an extended amount of time.

During the extended shot on the employee, off camera, the boss actor goes into the building just behind a door, an assistant puts the "boss prop" (wig, paper face, whatever) in where the boss actor "was".

The employee reacts as if he's suprised, swing the camera to the door opening and the boss actor coming out of the building with a WTF? look on his face. Swing back to the employee actor, employee actor turns his head to where the boss actor was during the yelling match, then swing to the prop.

Then either widen to show all three (boss standing in doorway, employee in same spot and prop in between) or swing back to the boss or employee for a crowning "you're fired" or "oh...damn" look.

Tights shots on the actors during the yelling (head shots only to carry the "trick"), medium wide when the boss jumps out, full wide for the reveal.

One shot, no sound, possibly cool gag if nailed.

Just a quick thought.
 
haha such a good idea Null and you know what would seal the deal? The boss "confiscates" the broom and begins to make out with it!

-Edalgo
 
Edalgo_Alvarez said:
Hey what happened to all those models you got ;)

-Edalgo
Click to expand...

I don't mix buissness with pleasure. Plus I'm more attractive to older women. These girls are 18-21. I consider that pretty young. Plus i was kidding when i said that! :laugh:
 
I call this "Partners" If you can't get inside the resturant, then you can keep the first shots entirely on the dumpster.

From the neck down we see a guy wearing a clean white apron come out the back door wearing gloves with a bag of trash.
He throws the bag in a dumpster. He walks back inside.
We stay on the door.
A moment later another bag of trash to the dumpster. Back inside.
We stay on the door.
This time, No trash bag...just a gun, we pull back and see the waiter is wearing a mask, and his clean white apron is now covered in blood (black and white you can use chocolate syrup)
We follow him to the dumpster. He opens it, (whip pan)
inside is a guy putting money from the bags into two backpacks. (whip pan)
The first guy takes his mask and apron off and puts them in the trash. He takes his gun, points it at the guy in the trash can. (whip pan)
a car pulls up. (whip pan)
back to guy dropping the gun next to dead guy.
He grabs the bags, closes the lids. Gets in the car and drives away.
Fade to black.
 
You just saved my ass, I love it! Thanks a ton Phil. Do you know anywhere to get a bunch of fake money? I suppose I could photocopy it a bunch of times on white paper since it's black and white. Is that legal?

Oh, and thanks to all the other suggestions as well. I appreciate it immensely.
 
Honestly, if it's for a film, just make black and white photocopies and never let them leave your sight. Then burn it when you are done. That way...ALL...your bases are covered.

Glad you liked it, if you can, let us see it when you're done! Good luck.
 
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