Movie Ideas
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Posted on Nov 08, 2004 04:48 pm
BennisHahn
Ex-Wookie
Member Since: Aug 29, 2003
Guys, looking for some ideas.
I am taking a video production class at my school (I'm a junior in HS) and have a final video project due at the end of the semester. I am trying to get ahead of the game and have started thinking of ideas for a plot*. I have a few but I would like to get some more. I'm looking for just one or two sentence ideas here, not developed stories. The criteria are:
-It has to be no more then 10-12 mins long.
-It has to be do-able. (one camcorder, and the cast will most likely be my family. (9 yo bro, 12 yo sis, mom, dad))
-I would like to be behind the camera but I don't think my bro/sis can act too well.
It can be a spoof, satire, anything really, although I really want to make a serious drama movie.
*The point of this is not to have a bunch of plots so don't think that you all are doing my homework or anything like that. It is graded on how well we do planning, production, post, etc...
So any ideas?
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Nov 08, 2004 06:47 pm were i you, i would enlist some friends instead of my family. i can't imagine doing it any other way!
if it's ten to twelve minutes and you want to do something serious dramatically with a camcorder, maybe you could make your focus extremely narrow. dramatize one small incident. to make the thing seem weighty you could possibly hint at some vast backstory, maybe in the film's closing moments, and that could help create the illusion of 'big drama' in a small time frame, without actually doing any work. in the short story world, flash fiction is known for this. a tiny scene is dramatized and then the reveal at the end will sometimes hint at something bigger, providing a mild shock or reframing of what you thought was going on, thus giving you some food for thought. this is a very simple structure and seems like it'd be perfect for a short film.
what topics have you been gravitating towards? anything? maybe you could go to the bookstore and browse one of those flash fiction books for ideas. those stories tend to be just one or two pages long, so you can check out quite a few to get your ideas sparking.
Nov 08, 2004 07:29 pm comedy ideas are far easier, i think. almost anything ends up working. my friends make movies and our best one was simply one where we were out driving and something runs across the road like a deer and we hit it. but it turns out to be the pope.
Nov 08, 2004 09:08 pm good ideas forty.
I have always gravitated away from comedy 'cause I don't think I’m that funny. I was considering messing with the timeline. Showing a real dramatic opening scene, backfilling with some info, and then showing a resolution. i guess this is very similar to what you are talking about.
I'm all about getting a pro look on this movie. I really want to take my time and plan everything out well and execute properly. That is why I am hesitant on making it with my friends cause most likely there won't be any "let's take another go at that then" going on.
I make movies with my friends all the time. Normally cranking out one a week but I really want to knock my teacher's socks off with this movie.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Nov 08, 2004 09:34 pm have any ideas yet?
TadpuiI am not a crook's headMember
Since: Mar 14, 2003
Nov 08, 2004 11:15 pm I'm working on a title for ya...here's what I've got so far:
"Debbie does..."
and that's it so far. I'll keep working on it tho.
Do you all ever watch any of those shorts that they show in the odd periods between movies on Showtime Next and HBO Zone? Some of those do a good job at seeming to cram a bunch of stuff into a short film, making the most of their time. Same with the short story collections that they show on IFC and Sundance sometimes.
I've got a lot of respect for people that can succeed in film. I can't even handle just getting audio to sound good, much less those fancy moving pictures. Jeez, even my still pictures suck!
Nov 09, 2004 07:00 am right now I’m thinking of something along the lines of having the whole family over for the holidays, since everyone can relate to that.
Start out with a picture of my whole family (aunts, uncles, etc) and narrating, "this is so and so, they never ---" or something like that. Then show a 10 second clip of them doing or not doing whatever you said. Then showing them all together eating dinner or something.
playing around with that right now.
Nov 09, 2004 09:05 am Hi there. Ok, i have zero experience in this field, but it gets my creative juices going crazy!
When i read about it having to involve your family as a cast, and that they dont act too well, i thought of a mockumentary perhaps? That way, they could act "real life" and wouldnt need to fake anything too much. Hey, you could even shoot lots of mundane footage of them in everyday scenarios and conversations, wind it back, and write bizarre stuff based on what theyve said, taking it out of context. When watching the end product, people would think they acted it out superbly :)
In the Uk there's been a really successful comedy series called The Office. It's basically a fly-on-the-wall documentary, but totally made up. COmplete with one-on-one face-to-camera interviews every now and then.
Ideas: i dunno.... pretend you're the only family in the states in which every family member has an imaginary friend.... clinically proven to be a genetic disorder. Or.... pretend its a docu about your little brother's "special talent", whatever that could be (make it up....could even take the piss by choosing sth thats so banal its laughable), pretend he enters pageants and stuff. Make it really serious, dead pan. In each case, mock interviews with specialist doctors, psychologists and such. Could have a lot of fun with that!
Or maybe i'm just crazy after all.... :)
Nov 09, 2004 09:10 am I like the idea of a mockumentary. Given the election is over, and everone is still better you could play on that. Make up some absolutley insane storyline about some completely radical impossible story about how Bush one the election with help from people in outerspace control the satelites that transfer the votes to counting centers on digital voting machines...blah, blah blah, just let you imagination go wild.
It could be funny, entertaining and very topical...plus a good hearted jab at the childishness and stupidity of politics in America.
Nov 09, 2004 10:43 am I'm with db, that kind of thing is exactly what i was trying to get at. The best thing about it is, you dont have to "write" it as comedy for it to have a comical and satiral effect.
Other ideas... something of huge historical importance thought to be buried under your garden. Spend 11 mins 50 second making it sound so meaningful, so vital, and so ultra important, you know complete with newsreader reports, then 10 seconds revealing it as something completely ordinary. E.g. a radioactive H bomb that ends up as a semi-decomposed tissue discarded by a nuclear plant workman. OK, so it sounds a bit Simpsons, but still.....
Nov 09, 2004 07:51 pm two lame ideas
al quaeda's new plan is infiltrating american barber shops, posing as barbers and knocking americans off one by one. your hero is your brother, a gay hairstylist who catches on to the plot and saves the world.
a door to door salesman sells a man a knife set that actually changes his life.
Nov 09, 2004 08:15 pm Do a fake reality show.
Nobody's sick of those yet, right?
Nov 09, 2004 09:30 pm do an unreality show
flame...bringing sexy backMember
Since: Jul 01, 2002
Nov 10, 2004 01:36 pm do an alternate-reality show
i dnot know what it is, but theres your idea...
Nov 10, 2004 01:38 pm some dude tripped out on acid watching his own reality...hey, 10 or 12 minutes inside the mind of a bad trip...
