David Makalena - Film Studies Coursework

A man comes from work, he is late and worried. He goes into the kitchen, where his wife has been preparing dinner. She is not happy with him, complaining how she has left the potatoes in for too long because of his lateness. Dinner is served and the two converse in awkward bursts. Ultimately, the wife is 'hurt' so much by the husband's actions that she gets up to leave. The husband comments on how the potatoes are fine to which the wife turns and slaps the fork out of his mouth. The husband apologies but the wife doesn't take it. Ultimately, she grabs him by the shirt, threatening him, until she drops him and leaves the room. This film is highlighting how men are the victim of domestic violence to a degree much bigger than people realise. It also points out how domestic violence is a lot more psychological than physical.

A couple eat dinner but tensions are high.

We got the opportunity to listen a screenwriter, Neil, about the process of generating ideas and then eventually creating a screenplay. Neil questioned my typical thinking methods - bringing up the idea that documentaries also offer an interesting story telling opportunity. However, for my coursework, doing a documentary is not applicable.  In general terms, Neil explained how short films should strive to be something you couldn't or wouldn't necessarily show in a feature length film. They should also include universally known scenarios so that they can connect to lots of people in a short space of time. Adapting short stories also came up, which is an idea I approached across summer break.  However Neil gave some genuine student film maker advice. He insisted that we build a story around resources that we have access to. He also recommended that we film the master shot first, the main shot, so that we have a concrete shot to work around. Neil's t...

For summer work I had been asked to come up with a few ideas for short films that I could make for my coursework. The ideas had to meet some guidelines but those were quite loose to begin with - meaning that I could make short films about whatever or whoever I'd want to. The first was an idea based on a short story or novella. When I was in Year 5 (I would have been ten years old) I read a collection of short stories by Michael Morpurgo and one stood out in particular - The Giant's Necklace. It is a described as being a ghost story for children and the ending is something that has stuck with me for the eight years since I last read it. Adapting this into a short film could be something really interesting and quite cool to do - with a more personal story as well, a short film could work better than full feature. The second idea is based on Dr Barry J Marshall, the man who discovered that H.Pylori bacteria causes stomach ulcers. His story is fascinating - he drank all of th...

Practice (based on short story) - INT. CAR - NIGHT DAD and CARLY sit in their family car, a Volvo estate, as they drive down a long, straight and mostly uninteresting side road in the Shropshire countryside. DAD puts one arm out the window and flings his head back to hit the head rest behind. DAD //  I can't believe they closed the motorway again! CARLY //  Well you know how shocking that road is. DAD //  It is pretty piss poor CARLY //  Piss poor? I break my back every time we drive down there. DAD //  But they always close it for 'repair issues' but it never seems any better. CARLY //  That's because of the Conservatives. DAD //  Damn right. CARLY holds her hand out for DAD to high-five it but DAD takes no notice. CARLY //  You gonna leave me hanging? DAD //  Yeah. I think I will. CARLY //  God I hate you. CARLY slumps back in her chair and...

Character - Name: Newt Maledos Age: 32 10 Things They Would Have In Their Pocket:  A knife A piece of map A hip flask A magic ring A sack of gold pieces A dragon's tooth A tearing of bread, wrapped in cloth A glass eye A spell scroll A greataxe EXT. FORBIDDEN FOREST - NIGHT Follow a feather as it glides along the forest floor. Suddenly, a large, brown, worn-in boot steps down on it as a thud is heard reverberating through the trees. The boot lifts slowly from the dirt as a purple, scaled hand reaches down to retrieve the feather - a glowing yellow band, sits on the ring finger. Continue to follow the feather as the hand pulls it up the long, brown, trench-coated body - with tears on its shoulder-pads and forearms; deep pockets at the waist and a purple, scaled body underneath.  The feather reaches the face of the body - a scaly, purple dragon-humanoid. Two large nostrils protrude like a pig's snout from the face as the character...

The Fly (2014) by Olly Williams What did I enjoy? The film is shot in a good way. The driver is always in shot and the camera focuses on him constantly. This makes sense obviously because he is the main protagonist but the personal feel of the close up camerawork truly drives that relation between us and him home. What did I find interesting? Similar to Operator, a feature film wouldn't necessarily show this side of the situation: in this circumstance we are seeing the getaway driver of a bank heist as opposed to the actual bank heist. What could I challenge? I feel that the wacky methods of this man trying to kill this fly ramp up too quickly. Also, I know the intention of this short is to be outlandish and funny because of it but a man shooting a car with a shotgun to kill a fly isn't funny in this sense because we haven't had time to learn about the character. All I am seeing in this moment is a very angry man destroy a car. If we spent time with the c...