2. Interpreting the brief
Sunderland Shorts is a film festival that occurs every
year, ever since 2015. It lasts for a week where 160
short films and music videos are showcased, coming
from all around the globe and country, whilst also
highlighting the talent within Sunderland itself.
Recently it has entered the top 100 rated Film
Festivals on Filmfreeway. One of their many aims
is to increase the knowledge and skills
of emerging filmmakers through
workshops, masterclasses and development
opportunities with experienced sector professionals.
Our aim for the brief is to create a short film or music
video to be entered into the 'Best Young, Emerging
and Student' category. The primary target audience
of this brief is young people aged between 16 – 25
and the deadline for the submission is the 10th of
May 2024.
3. Requirements of the brief
The Sunderland Shorts film festival is open to submissions of short
films made from anywhere around the world of all production
techniques, forms, genres and budgets as long as they comply with
the rules and requirements.
The film must not exceed 25 minutes in length, which includes titles.
We were provided with some genre suggestions as starting ideas and
inspiration:
• Horror
• Crime/Thriller
• Noir
• Music Video
• Experimental
• Animation
These genre suggestions will prove useful for when deciding what
genre of short film I will create.
4. Client Research
Chris J. Allan is a film practitioner from South Shields
who has been the festival Director of Sunderland
Shorts since 2020. This event is dedicated to
showing the best filmmakers from around the World
while championing National and Regional talent from
established names to young, emerging and student
creatives. Whilst under Chris' leadership, the festival
has received BIFA qualifying status as well as
entering the Top 100 rated Film Festivals on
Filmfreeway. Before becoming director, he has written
and directed various projects such as short films and
documentaries. He has a masters degree in film
studies, alongside experience teaching film and
media courses. Currently, he is the Secretary of the
Royal Television Society for the Northeast and other
regions.
5. Previous Sunderland Shorts Film Festival winners and Festival history.
In the film festival, there are multiple different winners for a
vast range of different categories such as: best comedy, best drama,
audience's choice, etc. There are also some awards given to
honourable mentions given out to those who didn't quite win. There
are multiple honourable mentions handed out.
Some of the winners from last year, 2023, include: Mum's Spaghetti,
directed by Lisa Kenney for best animation; City of Lost Souls,
directed by Nikas Mypouyioukas for best young, emerging and
student; and How to Build a Life, directed by Matthew Reese, for
audience choice award.
There are many categories for people to be able to receive an award
in.
The first festival of the Sunderland Shorts film festival was in 2015,
however its creation was announced prior, in 2014, by film director
Anne Tye and the Sunderland City Council. Around this time, a
friendship agreement was signed between Sunderland and
Washington DC in order to enhance opportunities to young people in
Sunderland. This made it a well-respected and successful festival in
the USA and internationally, and not just in Sunderland.
6. 3 Act Structure
The 3-act structure is an efficient method of splitting up the
narrative in order to make thins flow smoother and maintain a
well-balanced story. It splits up the narrative into 3 acts, with
act 2 being split into two subcategories: 2a and 2b.
Act 1 sets up the story, it is the exposition. It sets up the
catalyst where something happens to the character which
leads on to act 2. Act 2 takes up 50% of the narrative and is
split into two subsections. Section 2A is centred around a
discovery whilst the section 2B is the climax: a low point in the
narrative. The final category is act 3 which entails a resolution
and the denouement.
However, sometimes a short film may not necessarily flow this
structure because of the small time frame needed to fit the
whole narrative in. For this reason, subcategory may be
shortened a bit to fit it all in
A demonstration of this narrative structure being used can be
applied to the film 'Madagascar'. Act 1 is when the animals are
in the zoo. Act 2A would be when Marty runs away and
escapes the zoo. Act 2B would be when the Alex, Marty,
Melman and Gloria are stranded on the island and Alex starts
to return to his natural instincts as a lion. Act 3 would be when
Marty returns for Alex and their friendship is resolved as the
penguins help them escape the island.
7. Story Development
Having a clear structure is imperil when creating a short film, or any film
for that matter. A narrative structure is what is most commonly used,
and all films follow it to some degree. A narrative structure is split into 5
parts, the first part being the exposition. This is when everything in the
story is peaceful, and it establishes setting and introduces characters.
The next part is the rising action, which starts off with something
disrupting the peace that goes on during the exposition. The rising
action is where the problems caused by the disruption start to increase,
which is when it reaches the next part in the narrative: the climax. The
climax is the peak of the film where the most disruption is caused, and
the biggest event takes place. The next part is the falling action which is
where everyone recovers from the climax and solutions are starting to
be put in place. The final part is the resolution, where everything is
restored, and the story reaches an equilibrium.
Our short film challenges the typical codes and conventions of what a
narrative should include since we decided on doing an open ending
rather than a perfect resolution. This is a decision we made based on
our audience research and to make our narrative ore unique. It fits the
codes and conventions of the horror genre that we decided to make our
short film. The open ending creates a sense of unease and misery,
causing the audience to feel that sense of uncomfort that a horror film
should bring.
8. Writers Room- Peer Feedback
By referring to our initial rough draft of narrative on the mind map, we made a more refined and condensed version of
our narrative and placed them in the structure of a narrative. We created our narrative to be unconventional,
challenging the typical codes and conventions.
After we wrote down the narrative onto post
it notes, we went around the room and looked
at other people's narratives in our class, whilst they
looked at ours. We all gave and received feedback
on areas for improvement, and what they liked and
disliked about out plan for the short film.
When we received the feedback, all of it
was positive, saying they liked the concept of
our short film and didn't think anything needed
to be added to improve it.
Some of our peers said they liked the concept that Tessa, the antagonist's identity remaining unknown until the end
to create a more dramatic and surprising reveal. Therefore, considering this idea resonated well and received
positive feedback from our peers, we are going to definitely incorporate this into our final ideas and concept. The
peer feedback was helpful as it showed us that we were on the right track to producing something that is good and
engaging for our target audience.
