Induction Week - Science Fiction Short Film

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a little while, the first few days being back have been hectic. First thing I would like to say is that this year is shaping up to be amazing. Straight from the get go we received a short film to create; also discovering we will be working on 7 modules over the year, 2 of which are specialised, is really exciting stuff. Over the coming weeks I will be blogging about each module as I discover what each one entails, starting tomorrow when I discuss what I've learnt in my first module lesson in Truth and Telling. Below you will find the brief for a short film we had to produce in induction week...

Brief:- In groups of 4-6 create a 5 Min short film set 10 years in the future in Newport. Draw on the personality traits of the group to build 2 Character(s) who are living in the future. Using Newport as a backdrop for a future world. How can you use the camera to suggest a future time, will pollution have affected the light ? Or Will there be a utopian state, no poverty, food in abundance, work is something people do for leisure.

Code 10 - Short Film

(Recommend watching the video before you continue reading)

Working in a team of 6 with less than 3 days to finish the brief was stressful to say the least, especially with freshers in full swing. So working within this strict timeframe we had to think fast and work efficiently as a team. Spending a couple of hours brainstorming a story together and jumping straight into filming that evening (trying not to kill each other) was probably the hardest night of the 3, with everyones own creative input causing a few teething problems at the start.

Plot - Grouping our ideas together, we really latched onto the idea of merging technology with a human relationship. The idea that in the future humans are turning more and more towards using computers/robotics and social media to form friendships and relationships. How long before the first human falls in love with an A.I? Will it ever be acceptable to marry a machine? Can a robot ever be classed as being Human? These are the kind of questions we were trying to show while creating this story.

Production - On the first night we managed to shoot all the beginning shots and final shot in our living room. We gathered all the fairy lights we could find around the house and placed them around the floor to give it a blue neon kind of effect and piled up any Tv's / Laptops to try and create the illusion of look of a hackers hideout.

The 2nd day we went out and shot as many of the location shots as possible starting with: The University Library, Main Road (Not fun with the amount of jibes and beeping from cars), Walk Bridge and the Sea Wall. This shoot was the longest, taking a better part of the day and when coming to edit the footage most of the sound was inaudible due to heavy wind.

Final shoot - On this shoot we filmed the final 2 locations being in the bedroom and Roman Amphitheatre. The rest of the day was spent editing and finishing the final touches to the film, as well as to fix any inaudible lines with voice overs and to add music as the final touch and sound effects. One of our team members also worked on the ambient music leading up to the final soundtrack.

All in all I'm happy with the outcome and would love to get behind making this film again with better time constraints + budget. Please do leave a comment in regards to film or the blogging as I'm always looking to improve my skills. Thank You :)