presentation1-pdf

Presentation script

Hi, my name is Henry. My film is a short coming of age film about the relationship between two photographers. It will be set in modern day Britain and feature two main characters, a girl galled Leah and a boy called Harry. They will both be photographers. The film is a continuation of another short film called Viewfinder but the story is told from the male character (Harry’s) perspective.

I want to tell the story in a slightly different way to normal with a non-linear narrative. I’m going to start with showing the audience the ending of there relationship and then them having a good time in the middle of there relationship and then go on to tell the story of the events leading up to there first meeting. I’m going to tell the story this way because I think that this way will keep the audience interested for longer. and make it a bit more original compared to the other short coming of age films. Some feature length films like 500 Days Of Summer have also decided to tell the story in a non-linear manor to stand out and be original. Story lines in coming of age films and other types of dramas usually use linear story lines but allot use non-linear as they are the only genres that can get away with using this interesting method.

Some of the conventions of a coming of age film is that its main characters feature a boy and a girl, they are usually between 15 and 19 but the most common age is around 17. The film will tell the story of one of the characters struggles to get over something in there life. The classic story line is boy-meets-girl but recently more and more coming of age films like Its Kind Of A Funny Story have been highlighting the extremely common mental health problems amount teenagers and have been telling the story of there mental health problems along side the relationship problems and these films have become really popular. Some plot devices that have a massive affect on the film can be school which was common in older coming of age films like The Breakfast Club and there is parents break ups like in Boyhood or a terminal illness like in Me Earl And The Dying Girl or The Fault In Our Stars.

The cinematic conventions within coming of age films are fairly easy to pick out. They always use medium wide shots showing the characters whilst there having a conversation as seen theses three images, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The Art Of Getting By and The Spectacular Now. Other camera angles will usually include a medeum close up taken from between the two characters conversing as this is in personal space and brings the audience into the scene and conveys more emotion than if it was shot from further away. Colour is also notable. A warmer image will be used when the characters are happy or feeling safe and warm with people they love, like in the top left image where hes just received a gift from the girl he likes. On the other hand though a colder harsh image will be used if the characters are upset or arguing like in the top right image where the male character is angry with the female character. Coming of age films are also know to include some experimental features such as implementing some French New Wave style into the films. Wes Anderson is the most popular person to have done this with his film Moonrise Kingdom, he used centre framing like in the bottom left image and non-natural tracking motion to show the quirkiness of his characters as he does in all his films.

French New Wave is a cinematic style about breaking the rules and coming up with new and exciting ways of storytelling. I’m going to adopt some of the features of this style and use them in my film to emphasis Harry’s quirky character. a bit like Wes Anderson does in Moonrise Kingdom.

The conventions of sound in coming of age films are that they use music to enhance emotion and they tend to use popular indie rock music for other times that music is played. They often have the music as non-diegetic. Coming of age films quite often have non-diegetic voice over of the main character explaining the scenes occasionally through-ought the film.

I think that the most popular place that my film could be screened would be through online video streaming sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. This is because I wont have the budget or the length for a large scale cinema release but I could get the film out to a larger amount of people via the streaming sites.

Thank you for listening, are there any questions?

 

Bibliography

500 Days Of Summer – Marc Webb – 2009

Boyhood – Ritchard Linklater – 2014

Its Kind Of A Funny Story – Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden – 2010

Me Earl And The Dying Girl – Alfonso Gomez-Rejon – 2015

Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson 2012

Pierrot le Fou – Jean Luc Godard – 1966

The Art Of Getting By – Gavin Wiesen – 2011

The Breakfast Club – John Hughes – 1985

The Perks Of Being A Walflower – Stephen Chbosky 2012

The Spectacular Now – James Ponsoldt – 2013