Creating an opening two minute film

Our task was to practice creating the opening two minutes of a film in an hour. There was four/five people per group and we were put into a category that best suited us. One the person came up with the idea for the film, another chose the characters and location, and another film and editing. In my group Jasper was in charge of creating the idea for the film, he decided to base it on a drug deal that went wrong and the man died. The idea was then passed onto me and I had to decide who would act and where it would take part so I went out of the class the found two boys to play the roles and decided to do it in the school toilet because it made the film look dodgy. After I chose who would play the two men I gave them to Kate and Richard where they went away to film, and once they came back Rachel edited the clips into a video.

This was our final video...

Diamond nine

We were asked to prioritise what we think are most important things within a film into a diamond nine , this is what I first thought...

After looking at the media mark scheme I changed my mind on how important or less important some of the the things were to make a good movie...

Making a character

Name: Stacey
Age: 19
Nationality: American
Profession: University and works in McDonalds
Marital status: Single

How do they speak?

Stacey is educated but has no common sense and is away with the fairies all the time, they don't use long fancy words neither does she have good grammar and often swears with a whinny annoying voice and says random words such as 'thiddle sticks'. Stacey talks the same to everyone even if its a friend, teacher or mum. When someone speak to her she will often not pay attention and when she does speak shell just be looking around as if she doesn't care.

What are they like as a person?

• Stacey is fed up with her life as she is always treated like she is nothing and is always so unlucky so she gets fed up with herself easily.
•  She's rather pessimistic but however hard she tries nothing would ever go hey way.
• She's the life and soul the part purely because she always manages to make a fool out of herself because she's an inner child and doesn't come across as mature as others her age.

What does the character like and dislike?

• Stacey is into cheesy chart music and she often finds herself  singing randomly. She the type of person who would get up and do karaoke without thinking about the consequences of embarrassing herself.
• Stacey loves her food and would rather go to McDonalds than go out for a fancy dinner. comfort food to go to when she's sad is loads of junk food form her cupboards like crisps and chocolate bars.
• Stacey gets excited at little things such as Christmas time she gets really excited like a big kid.

What about their past?

Stacey has lived with her nan and granddad all her life because her parents left her on her grandparents doorstep when she was born. Stacey often thinks about what is wrong with her, why is she always so unlucky and why she was left alone? Although her grandparents are poor and she lives in a small cramped house her grandparents have always treated her like a baby and if it wasn't for university she would still be living with them for the rest of her life. At university she is forced to look after herself and struggles to get by everyday without any trouble. Stacey is used to being classed as the 'weirdo' and ' lame', no one ever wanted to be friends with her so she would go around on her own forever making a fall out of herself. However when she gets to University everything changes after a funny video she puts in YouTube and she finds herself one of the most popular girls around, the girls who were once popular would snigger in jealousy at her while boys chased after her.

What do the characters do?

Stacey earns a living by working in McDonalds earning little although after she becomes popular she quits McDonalds to move onto bigger things where she earns loads, such as interviews etc.

How important are characters particularly in the opening 2 minutes of a film?

Characters are usually important in the opening 2 minutes in a film because that's where they get introduced and the scene is set. If the characters are boring then the audience are likely to get bored and turn the film of straight away as the characters are what make or breaks and film, if the actors isn't very good or well suited to acting out a character the film will seen very unrealistic.