Recreation of 'My Beast Friend'

My beast friend: Plot synopsis & script

Film Synopsis;
Ed is clearing his apartment out and getting rid of his foul-mouthed cat. The cat is trying to read the label strapped around his neck it says; 'Please look after this cat, Free to good home!' The cat demands to know whats going on and threatens to be sick. Ed tells the cat he's just clearing out and it's got nothing to do with his new girlfriend Amelia. Ed tells fluff he's sending him to 'pleasure land' which pleases the cat. Then Amelia turns up early and reads the label hanging off the cat, thinking Ed rescued the cat, she says she will be his new mummy now and the cat realises what's going on, and calls Ed 'a lying c***' however the twist is the cat is a human dressed in a cat outfit when it's just Ed, but when Amelia comes in it's a real cat and changes from the two, making the short film comical.

Script -

FLUFF

   ple-plea-please.

Ed tell me what's going on

right now or i'm going to

sick up all of yesterdays tuna.

 (makes sick noises)

Oh no it's that girl

isn't it. Ameba.

You're mad, she's weird.

 

ED

This is nothing to do

with Amelia! I just.

 I just wanted to sort my

life out you know get rid

 of some of the dead wood.

 Soo I thought i'd take

you to this great fun place,

 just for cats, yeah just

 until I finish tidying up.

 It's called.. pleasureland.

 

FLUFF

Pleasureland? Sweet, but not before time.

(Door bell rings)

 

AMELIA

I'm so sorry Ed, I know i'm super early!

 Oh my god! Is this?

 

ED

 Er this is fluff

 

AMELIA

Free to good home. Some monster actually abandoned

this sweet, little creature. Well fluff I

guess this makes me your new mummy now.

 

FLUFF

You lying cun-

Recreate: My beast friend

We were put into groups and were told we had to remake a short film. I was in a group with Lily Vosper, Evie Calaby and Lizzie Starling. We had an option to choose between; 'My beast friend' and 'Get off my land' it was a hard decision as at first we desperately wanted to do the latter, however we thought it would be more difficult to film and would give us less time to edit, so we agreed on the former, we just needed to find a cat costume which would be our biggest problem. We all agreed to film on the following sunday, but unfortunately I was ill and was unable to come along, but I believe they all got on fine and we have some great footage thanks to my team! I know Lily has been editing that and I have seen a fair bit of the footage, so hopefully we will be all ready to present the remake this friday!

Character list:
- Amelia
- Ed
- Fluff (cat)

It is shot in a house/apartment in the original, but we're shooting at Evie's house and that's the only location we will use for the whole film.

Research for short film;

In this post I will be looking at 3 short films and analysing how they are similar and how they are different, these are the 3 short films I will be looking at;

Short film 1 - Silent Things - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00kmy38

Short film 2 - Echoes - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004pw7r

Short film 3 - Flushed - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004qk6j

All three of these films use real people, rather than cartoons or models. They are, however unusual, all based on real life situations and problems. The first two are drama's and have a very serious theme throughout and highlight some serious problems in society, the third, is a comedy and mocking a situation that some people may find themselves in. The first uses very little speech, which could be the director's way of helping us understand the two main characters, who are autistic and see the world in a different way and by cutting out general speech it allows the audience to get inside the two autistic characters' head creating a very different feel to other films. It also gives the film a much more serious tone to it, which is where it is similar to my second short film, which does have digetic speech, but uses long silences, with little non-digetic sounds as well, to add tension and also make the film have a serious tone. The third film however, uses continual digetic sounds which gives it a much more upbeat, cheerful atmoshpere to suit the genre of the film. The first film has gentle, natural lighting, as most of the film is set on the beach. I think the setting of this film is perfect, as the beach is a very calm and serene place and the natural lighting reflects the very childlike characteristics of autistic people. In the second film the lighting is very dim and shadowy, which instantly gives the film the dark and gloomy feel that best suits the topic of the film. In the third film the lighting is very bright and artificial, perhaps reflecting how over the top the situation is. In all three films, there are many close-up shots of the faces of the main characters, in the first two to show the thoughts and feelings of these characters through their facial expressions, that they many not be able to express in any other way. In the third film, to over exaggerate how the boy is feeling which creates the comedy factor. The first two films are 12-13 minutes long, but the third is only 5 minutes long, this could be because dramas where the director is essentially trying to get a point across to the audience, and need the audience to be able to relate and empathis with the main character, need much longer to be able to develop that relationship between character and audience. Whereas in the comedy, the main emphasis is on the comical situation, not the character necessarily.

Link to practice task

My Beast friend;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p007xb6t

Characters profiles

These are some bullet point facts about my characters for my short film;

Character 1; Hayley 
- Woman 
- 30
- 9 stone, 5ft.5, curvy womanly build,but slim and small, Ginger hair, brown eyes, pale skin, freckles, left handed, left sleepy eye, skips as she walks and if she's being carried by dancing fairies, she's smokes, but she refuses to admit she's a smoker, she tends to adopt the accents of anyone she's around, she has a high pitched lyrical voice, she talks using quotes and famous sayings a lot of the time, but other times she is well spoken and well educated. She tries not to swear, but again if she is around people who swear she finds it hard not to pick it up around them. She lives alone with her two children, a boy and a girl; the boy, Toby is 6 and the girl, Marilyn is 3. Marilyn is bubbly, talkative and always asking questions, blonde with blue eyes and a magical smile. Toby is protective of Marilyn and always enjoys teaching her all he knows. He's finding his feet and settling into school, however he's a shy boy who has been taught to respect and be kind to all. 
Hayley is no longer married, she has been hurt badly before by her first lover and father of her children, but she is healing and finds comfort in the close relationship she has with her friend; Nick. They have slept together a few times, but she's too scared of getting hurt and hurting her children to embark on anything more, however he's loved her for a long time and just being part of her life is enough for him. Hayley's mother is deceased and her father in a care home. Hayley lives near the sea, as she's always wished, she keeps herself to herself and rarely socializes with anyone. She owns the little terraced house and is very proud of that fact, it cost her £215,000, but most of this was paid with a mortgage. It is lightly furnished, she doesn't like clutter, but it's got a lot of rugs and old sofas which give it a homely feel. She is a tidy woman, not obsessively although she is with hygiene, but she always like a little of the children's mess around her. She works as a nurse at the local hospital, which is enough for her and the kids to live comfortably on. She spends more money than she has on material things for herself than she should. She enjoys her job and has never desired to do anything else, she writes novels and poetry in her free time, but never does anything with it. She feels she is mistreated in work by her boss, so she avoids him as much as possible, however she is at breaking point and is desperate for the promotion she deserves. Hayley's mum, Claire, died when she was 21 of cancer, she was a frail, delicate lady all her life and Hayley was very close to her. Her father was much older than her mother and is now living in a care home an hour away from Hayley, she tries to see him as often as she has time, but she just doesn't have that much time these days. Her mother was very blonde and her father had dark red hair. 

These following questions must be answered in the evaluation:

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
How does what you have produced fit in with normal 'short films' and how doesn't it? What makes it different and stand out and what makes it 'fit in'.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
What colours, texts, sounds and images did you use to create the theme and atmosphere of your piece.

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?
In this question, you need to make as many references to any audience feedback you have recieved. Go over things you weren't sure about or were worried about and make note of whether your audience picked up on those points or whether they noticed any mistakes. Points that are mentioned frequently in the feedback and that if you done it again would you change them. The good and bad points, what you'd keep the same and what you'd change etc. Do I except comments from my audience or would I want to challenge them?

4. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Very simply, explain what props and quitment you used to create your product, how you used them and how useful they were for you. Did you have any faults with any of them.

Short Films links

Here are some links to some short films I have found and liked and why I liked them;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00pf28k
The Last Man on Earth - BBC;
I liked this because it only had one character, but he was a good actor so it worked. The scene was also very simple, but because it had a punchline at the end, it didn't matter. Simple is what i'm looking for as being  an a-level student we don't have much to work with. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00mr8n9
NightWalking - BBC;
This was unusual in that the punchline, was the other person's point of view. Its shows the world from the other side, which I liked

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p006fbrh
The Conservatory - BBC;
I liked this one, because it was really unusual, it seemed to have no point or punchline and it was very short. It was also a cartoon, done in a very homemade way.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p0058zrw
The zebras of Jack Tizard - BBC;
I've put this link on here, as it was a good example of a documentry, which is another option that I could take.

These two videos we have been studying in class and will soon do a remake of one of them;
Get off my land - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00gs4yj
and
My beast friend - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p007xb6t