OUR INSPIRATIONAL FILMS - PREPRODUCTION PLANNING

This post explains the specific films that have directly influenced our own film in a particular way and why. This is further research we did for our film, which will reflect our ongoing planning. Based on our current draft outline of our film, how these films have influenced us are highlighted throughout.




                                                                                                                                      

WINTER

• This whole film was extremely influencing on our film as it has a very similar structure in terms of two opposite people meeting on neutral ground and disliking each other at first but then and then begin to get along. 
• Although the ground is neutral as it is a public bench, there is an element which makes it belong to one of the characters more than the other which is the fact that he was sitting there first and he spends his days there/lives there. Similarly in ours it is neutral ground as they are on a public train, however there is an element which makes it more one characters space as he was sitting there first and the other character is now invading his space. 
• These characters are so different they are almost opposites in terms of personalities - they reflect off each other which makes an interesting combination. One character is of an African origin and is humble and friendly where as the other is a homeless English man that is crude and unfriendly. Similarly our characters are opposite as one is a tall, black, male with Caribbean characteristics and the other is a short, white female with English characteristics, despite this however the two find something that allows them to get along.
• At the end of this film one character is left by themselves and their encounter ends there. Similarly to this the characters will leave their separate ways never to see each other again but with a possibility they might.

                                                                                                                                      

MR FAST HANDS

• Our film has a shot in it that was inspired by this film. The entire 5 minutes duration of this short film is one continuous shot and that was something we really liked because it was different and challenging. We took the idea but made it only a part of our film so it was more controllable. In the flashback that takes place in our film there is one long continuous shot which follows one character and then in the same shot links in with the other character to show their relation to each other, in our case it truly highlights how close the two characters live but are oblivious to it. 

                                                                                                                                    

Two Cars One Night

• This film also has the plot of two characters that start of disliking each other and then end up becoming friends. This seems to be a reoccurring theme of short film as a relationship between two people always makes for an interesting but simple story it seems.
• We have been inspired to do something similar as the two characters are similar age of opposite sexes but end up as friends at the end rather than it being a full blown romance.We intend for our characters relationship ends up more as a friendship perhaps with only a small hint of romance.
• In Two Cars One Night the location and circumstances mean that their relationship will be short lived as eventually the kids will drive away with the guardians. However, the time they spend together is longer than we see and this is shown to us by the time lapse. Similarly, in our film, the circumstances the pair meet in mean that their relationship will come to an end - as it is on a train and their destination is approaching. Also, instead of time lapses we plan on using fades to demonstrate time passing to show the time they spend together longer than we are present for.

                                                                                                                                                  

Home Alone 2 - Lost in New York

From 23:50 to 24:08

• This film can give us inspiration for out flashback scene.

• We have our 2 characters in our flashback walking down the road towards each other but don't notice each other. We can use the scene from 23:50 to 24:08 as inspiration for this scene.

• This scene uses shot reverse shot like we plan on using and keeps cross cutting shots until they finally pass but don't notice one another. This is what we want to achieve in our scene and use some of the same kind of camera techniques so that we can achieve the result and outcome they have done in the scene.