Part of a series Idea
After a mild panic, which I am assured is not uncommon in the Film/TV Industry, I have had to start thinking hard about where to go now, with not much time to figure it out before the Proposal deadline,
I don’t want to waste all the work I have done in working on my Robbers idea. I mean, no research and story planning are ever wasted in the long term, but I am thinking more short term here. I have a big problem to solve here, time is of the essence, so I want to re-use whatever planning I can.
I started by working out what the key elements of my “incompetent robbers” idea were that I like. Some ideas I came up are
- Comedy drama
- A twist at the end
- Only 2 main actors
- An easily accessible location (or so I thought)
- Lots of interesting shot opportunities
- Interesting editing opportunities like the screen changing to be a security monitor at the end
- On brand with using trilby hats
I started brainstorming. And problem solving. I figured that the most vital element to make this project successful was location. It is the element that has been the most troublesome, and the one that is the reason why I am even having to rethink. So, I have decided to sort that first.
Location
The most obvious location I can think of is the same place that I used last year for my Year 1 FMP under Covid Restrictions. This is a woods literally a minute’s walk from my house. There are still some issues, such as the General Public, dogs, wildlife, but I can address those in my Risk Assessment.
There is also the weather, which I have less control over. Well, no control really. It had been an issue when I filmed there last year, which is why I was pleased to be filming indoors at the College this year. But I overcame the weather issues last year so I am sure I can again. I can keep a close eye on the weather forecasts and plan my filming early enough that I give myself contingency filming time if the weather is awful for my original Principal Photography days.
But it is easy to access. Regarding Covid restrictions and Safety, it is outdoors which is an advantage since there is nowhere other than College that we are supposed to be indoors.
So, location sorted. Now for the idea. Comedy drama obviously. I have already started gathering ideas of what to research about comedy, such as comedy theories like the Benign Violation theory and Mistaken Identity for example. In a previous Journal I have analysed the comedy in my Year 1 Spy-themed Toast Advert shot by shot, to understand why people find it funny. I hadn’t known the comedy theories when I wrote it, but my analysis showed how it fits established comedy theories. I want to reuse all that information to inform this idea too.
“The Wrong Hat” Series
I had a brainwave. Before I changed the location to the wood, I had been trying to think of various ideas involving trilby hats, based around the loose idea of “The Wrong Hat”. I was coming up with quite a few, such as an ordinary person, going to an interview to work in an office, is wearing the same hat as candidate going to an interview to work as a Spy. The Spy candidate was told to wait on a particular corner, and he would be picked up in an unmarked car. Both people are wearing the same colour and type of trilby hat. Due to a mix-up, the ordinary person ends up being taken to the Spy Interview. I could see lots of potential for comedy there. I have some other ideas too around trilby hats.
As part of my research into incompetent robbers I had watched an episode of the BBC2 series Inside No. 9 (2014) called “A Quiet Night In” about 2 incompetent robbers. Inside No.9 (2014) is a series that is still going. Each episode is stand alone, and the only link is that each episode takes place in a place with the number 9, for example, house number 9, warehouse 9, room 9. At the start you see an image of the number 9 relevant to that episode. The other link is that each episode is written by Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton who also act in each episode.
My brainwave is that I make my film part of a potential series, “The Wrong Hat” series. Each episode is stand alone and involves a trilby hat, which is the link, like “No. 9” is the link. Part of my Proposal will be that I will come up with a number of ideas for this series and chose the most appropriate one to film given all circumstances. This will let me dig deeper into the trilby link and will mean that all the research for my “incompetent robbers” episode can be made use of. I think this is a good solution and is actually stronger than my original robbers idea since it also looks at how my film would fit in a real life program schedule, and broadens the scope beyond simply being a short student film.
I’m feeling a bit happier, but I need to get this idea into a Proposal. My concern is that due to the very issue that caused me to have to rethink, that is all the uncertainty around Covid Restrictions, I’m not sure how I am going to get an accurate and useful Schedule sorted out before the deadline, since I don’t know when I’ll know when we will be back in College, combined with all the other Covid Issues. I think I will just have to plan a schedule based around key points that I do know, such as the latest I date I could leave filming too, the earliest that I could be sure of having access to College Equipment by etc. I will have to keep an eye on things timewise and rejig my schedule as appropriate. When I was a Runner for Director Damian Power in January this year, he was constantly updating his schedule and Call Sheets depending on what was happening. You tie down as much as you can, but you need to be flexible too. For my Year 1 FMP I did a very detailed schedule including which day I would research what. I soon found that it doesn’t work like that, and it is better to allow chunks of time depending on what is appropriate for your film.
So, I’m off to write a new Proposal and Schedule.