Summer Work

My idea was to produce a short film called ‘Lecture’. The protagonist of this piece is to be a lecturer at a college whose life suddenly falls apart, he loses his girlfriend, his father is diagnosed with cancer, and on top of this, his childhood dog is put down. But, he still has to pay the bills, so he carries on working. The students notice almost instantly that he is different because he isn’t the same as he was before. He isn’t fun, he isn’t compassionate, and he isn’t warm like he used to be. They begin to ask questions and quicky find out about his girlfriend, assuming that to be the only issue. They try to set him up with another member of staff who likes him, and has for a long time, but to a great disaster, because he doesn’t like her. At least not that way. He finds out the students did this for him, and in realising how much they care for him, he finds solace in teaching them and his faith in life is restored, making him a better person for it. At the end, his ex girlfriend shows up at the college to see him, and seeing that he is apprently not bothered about the break up, decides she wants him back. He, being stronger now, says no.

For my flat plans, I produced a plan of a film poster, and a plan for a magazine review of a short film, in line with brief number 7.

My two main inspirational texts are ‘The Office’ (the UK version) and ‘This is Spinal Tap’, both of which are mockumentaries. The white, professional colour scheme comes from ‘The Office’ itself, and I find that this is a scheme which shows exactly what needs to be shown about the piece. ‘This is Spinal Tap’ is more of an influence in the writing and production of the piece rather than the poster and review. Looking at the picture below, you can see where I took the simple colour scheme and text ideas from.

‘The Office’ is a great example of the mockumentary format. It brings great heart, laughter, and drama to the screen, which is exactly what I am aiming for. It has in depth characters, great performances, and hilarious sequences. ‘This is Spinal Tap’ is more of a comedic influence. Many people argue that on a minute to laugh ratio, ‘Spinal Tap’ is one of the funniest films made, and I might be inclined to agree with them. It’s an extremely tight, extremely funny movie, filled with different gags and one liners and running jokes. This is where most of the comedic element in the film will come from.

'This is Spinal Tap' is a mockumentary - or as they say in the film, a 'Rockumentary' about a fake british band and their train wreck American tour. The film is filled with iconic moments, and many of these are improvised. This is where my big comedic inspiration comes from, the style of this movie. Situational jokes that come from the characters personalities and how they would behave in various situations.