#just look at the filmography and it's an even longer list if i add the shows he's produced!!!

[celestial-sapphicss]

the legend himself

[zacharyleishmanfilmstudent]

(FILM 202) Negotiated Project – Realising the Manifesto

After the creation of my manifesto dubbed ‘the second look manifesto’ I had established a clear set of criteria upon which to develop an original short film from. With the project eventually being readjusted to be a preproduction package rather than an adaptation of the script, I was given the opportunity to revise the original script and address the criteria to a new script.

Expanding the scope of the script greatly I have re-written it to be realised in a post-lockdown world requiring the use of a full cast and crew to adequately realise its material. During the writing process I set the script to specifically realise the criteria listed in my manifesto and the revised script meant I was able to expand on the elements that would reflect the criteria to a greater degree as this film would hopefully no longer be filmed solely in the location of a single house.

To serve as a record of my ideas on the elements I want to explore, the following is a list of the specific elements that will realise the criteria, so the final film can be analysed in conjunction with this set of initial ideas and determine how strictly the manifesto was followed.

The film needs to follow two themes present in previous works:

The two specific themes that I have chosen to readdress from my previous works are that of identity and isolation. Whilst not serving as the sole two present themes in the final script they do serve as the basis from which the plot is born. The theme of identity had been previously explored in my short film titled ‘Box-Head’, a short that explored an individual obscuring his face from others out of fears of a lack of acceptance for whom he is. This theme I wanted to specifically use in the creation of the villain as the lack of a distinguished face has in my experience of horror contributed greatly to the creation of tension through ambiguity, with the literal reuse of the box present in the previous short one of my earliest pieces literally demonstrating my obsession with the theme.

The second theme of course being isolation again a no-brainer theme to go with due to the universal relatability of the theme I have previously explored the theme in my Halloween double feature ‘outsiders’ but failed to explore the theme to the extent that it deserves. With an increased runtime I will have more of an opportunity to explore the theme better and give it the justice I believe that I can, particularly given that I intend this short to be much more of a ‘slow-burn’ affair.

The genre must be representative of the total oeuvre of the creator:

Taking time to re-examine the contents of my creative portfolio the two overwhelming genres that I’ve dabbled in during my career are that of drama and horror. Bearing an undeniable affinity for the latter of the two my love for the genre is reflected in the vast majority of my work with my channel’s most successful efforts being horror based. Nonetheless though drama has been an equally explored element throughout the majority of my work. The short I’m in fact most proud of ‘Hollow in the Hotel’ is primarily a drama piece and as such I suppose the piece can only be benefitted from equally exploring this genre for the piece as the pairing of horror to the likes of drama or even comedy is most commonly only beneficial

Two shooting styles must be adopted from previous works:

The immediate shooting style that I was keen to readdress with this short, even before establishing a manifesto was that of black and white colour grading. My personal favourite colour design for film as a whole I’ve attempted in the past to explore its use but have never been able to truly justify its usage or perfectly execute it.

With this film I intend to be able to make a perfect use of black and white, taking place during scenes both in the day and at night so I have an opportunity to perfectly set lighting to make the colour choice clear and not a distraction when the lighting isn’t strong enough, similarly by using the colouring to imply an almost dream like state it can be considered a contributing factor to the atmosphere being created rather than a random stylistic choice.

The second shooting style I want to make use of again is that of an irregular aspect ratio. Shooting usually in the native 16:9 I have rarely ever deviated from this style and feel that I need to do so more. Having only once shot in 4:3 on my short ‘Baby-Face’ I feel that shooting in new aspect ratios will be a test of my skills for framing as all considerations need to reflect their compatibility to the aspect ratio and a new aspect ratio not familiar to traditional modern shorts such as 1.19:1 will make the piece naturally stand out, as well as compliment the black and white colour grading.

The level of dialogue must juxtapose the rest of the oeuvre:

A challenge set to frankly spite myself I wanted to challenge the degree of writing I’ve offered to my previous works. Having only produced three shorts with full dialogue sequences, the writing of dialogue needs to be something I practice and overcome my shakiness of, I don’t believe myself to be a good writer of dialogue and this is something only overcome through practice. Often having produced silent non-dialogue shorts, the presence of extended dialogue sequences here will ensure that this short hopefully stands out in contrast to the rest of my portfolio and it will also certainly lend itself well to a ‘slow-burn’ short as a continued lack of dialogue will go quickly from justifiable, to laborious.

The film must contain multiple inside and outside environments:

Another challenge expressly set to challenge myself I wanted to try to exceed the expectations of my lecturers whom have become unfortunately used to most student work appearing in student houses and accommodation, thus I want to ensure that even if this type of location does have to be featured it is at least complimented with locations other than just this. Aiming to have exterior locations in urban and natural locations, it’s a challenge my practice needs to go through as I have been guilty myself of producing too many housebound shorts and it can only help my film eventually come to stand out by featuring a range of hopefully ‘different’ locations.

The film cannot be shot solely digitally:

A great desire during my time in university has been to be able to work with film as much as I possibly can. With the course resigning use of film to solely projects where we sadly haven’t been able to make use of it independently, I’ve been naturally forced to work with digital film and haven’t been able to properly pursue my interest in it. With the good execution of use of film being to me a serious mark of quality craftsmanship from a filmmaker to perfectly use such an unpredictable material I want to be able to add such a level of quality to my work and prove to my peers that I am more capable than they might initially believe.

Three elements specifically deemed a failure by the creator from previous works must be readdressed:

The three specific elements from previous films that I have chosen to readdress is as follows. Use of single colour grading. I want to have sequences graded solely with red colour grading. Having tried to do so previously in my short ‘Apostle’ the effect wasn’t nearly as successful as I wanted as the blending was amateur and the finished product is lowered in quality by the colouring detracting from the clarity of the shot, my intention is to include such a colour again and do it as well as films such as ‘Mandy’.

Secondly, I want to make effective usage of green screen. Having recently learned how to achieve the visual technique on digital film and in editing software I want to produce a sequence that tests my ability to create a sequence where in which multiple versions of the same character will appear at once. Having worked with the technique in my previous short ‘legacy’ I want to perfect my use of it by using the technique for a legitimate reason that the plot relies upon and making enough use of blending of light and background to make the effect appear seamless.

Finally, a general increase in interesting camera mobility is something I want to make use of in this short. A problem that greatly plagues the majority of my filmography is the use of stationary cameras and shot types, I haven’t been willing to experiment as typically I’ve had to act in my shorts and haven’t been able to experiment with which, but hopefully with this being a larger production I will be able to go effectively nuts with the camera utilising long takes, focus pulls and roaming cameras. The closest I’ve ever gotten to pulling off successful mobile long takes are in my shorts ‘Hollow in the Hotel’ and ‘Pairbond’ and I greatly desire to exceed them in length, quality and justification for their place in the film.

These are effectively the techniques and elements I’m most keen to address through the criteria of my manifesto. Designed to not be fair on myself I want to deliberately challenge my practice and know that these challenges are exactly the way to better myself as a filmmaker. To see these elements executed throughout my portfolio to better understand the elements I want to fix, please see them via the link to my YouTube channel below:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCwTG0iuRslXoEMnBXRI7Q