Prop List...

Here is a list of props which we need to gather to use in our short film, 'Confessions of a sock-a-holic':

- A Onsie (for the Sockman's costume)
- A hair/paper clip for breaking into houses
- Sketches and drawings of the 'sock monster' drawn by Paul
- Socks...and lots of them
- Childrens toys for the childs room
- A map of the world
- Drawing pins
- A bag


-KW

Character Profile...Paul Smith

Full Name: Paul Smith

Age: 18

Occupation: The Sockman (unpaid)

Likes: Pairs of socks, hairbands, attention

Dislikes: Odd socks, haircuts

Charcter Synopsis: Cynical. Determined. Full of angst. Breaks into people's houses and re-pairs their socks in hopes to find the Sockmonster. Its a good thing, apparently.


-KW

Script (first draft)...

“CONFESSIONS OF A SOCK-A-HOLIC”

EXT-PARK-DAY

Documentary crew edge towards young boy walking dog

DOCUMENTARY CREW (QUESTIONING):

Excuse me, have you ever heard of the Sockmonster?

RANDOM YOUNG BOY (THOUGHTFUL):

…I think so, doesn’t he steal our socks?

CUT TO:

EXT-HOUSE FRONT-DAY

Crew knock on random door

RANDOM PERSON #2 (RAISES EYEBROW):

Can I help you?

DOCUMENTARY CREW:

Quick survey; do you often find you have odd socks?

RANDOM PERSON #2 (GROANS):

Too often to even count

CUT TO:

EXT-CITY-DAY

DOCUMENTARY CREW (QUESTIONING):

Have you ever heard of the Sockman?

RANDOM PERSON #3 (FROWNS SLIGHTLY):

Who? The Sockman? Never heard of him.

FADE TO:

INT-INTERVIEW ROOM-DAY

‘Paul Smith’/Sockman settles down in the chair and anxiously fidgets. Adjusts attire and eyes flick around the room scanning the unfamiliar setting

INTERVIEWER (QUIETLY):

You ready?

PAUL (UPTIGHT) Clenches hands in lap:

Just get on with it

INTERVIEWER (TAKES DEEP BREATH IN AND OUT AND QUESTIONS):

So Paul, tell us about this enemy of yours, the Sockmonster

CUT TO:

INT-BEDROOM-DAY

Paul refers to map and further documents referring to the Sockmonster and his movements

PAUL (V.O)(CONTINUED FROM INTERVIEW)(PASSIONATE):

He’s not just my enemy. He is society’s villain. He steals (emphasis) socks. Your socks. He steals your clothes. I mean ok, sure he doesn’t take your t-shirts or your shoes, which are more valuable, but still he takes something you have paid for. Gone. Forever.

Paul pins tags to map, marking where he has been and where to go next. Looks to hand drawn picture of the Sockmonster and screws up piece of paper in anger

INTERVIEWER (V.O)(CRITICAL):

Don’t you think that’s a bit over dramatic? You’re taking it very personally, as well. It seems to me that he is not doing this just to you, so why take it so personally?

Paul gets ready for his next mission. Gets changed into Sockman outfit

FADE TO:

INT-INTERVIEW ROOM – DAY

PAUL (O.S) (AGITATED):

Over dramatic? Because of that thing, my mother is dead. He purposely left a sock, which my mother slipped on and resulted in her death. You cannot say it’s not personal.

INTERVIEWER(SIGHS):

Do you tend to have an outfit when tracking down this so called Sockmonster.

PAUL:

This is my OnePiece, I always wear this when on duty because it is the closest thing to a full body sock.

CUT TO:

Sockman/Paul picking at the door lock and breaks in. Cowboy shot and front shot of Paul walking up the stairs. Enters bedroom and goes to open suspected sock draw. In the meantime knocks over flower vase.

LITTLE BOY (ALARMED):

Mummy! I heard something!

Paul rises and anxiously scans the room

FADE TO:

EXT-POLICE STATION-DAY

Paul leaves police station after his arrest for breaking and entering. Long shot and pan of him crossing the road.

DOCUMENTARY CREW:

You ok?

PAUL (HUSHED):

Yeah I’m fine. I’m fine.

CUT TO:

INT-INTERVIEW ROOM-DAY

INTERVIEWER:

What was Paul like as a teenager?

PAUL’S SISTER:

We never really saw eye to eye. He was there…but it was like he wasn’t.

CUT TO:

Paul pulls the map out of his bag and places it back on the wall. He then takes out the socks he collected and repairs them with socks that he had previously found.

PAUL’S SISTER (V.O):

Ever since our mum died, he’s spent all his time in his room.

CUT TO:

INT-BEDROOM-DAY

Pan of Paul’s room. See posters, voodoo dolls, map and picture of his mum.

CUT TO:

INT-INTERVIEW ROOM-DAY

Paul’s Dad looks serious sat in the interview chair. Breathes in deeply and exhales in preparation for the unrepressing of lies and hurt over his wife’s death

INTERVIEWER:

Why don’t you tell us how your wife really died?

PAUL’S DAD (SIGHING):

I knew you would ask that.

FADE TO:

INT-HALLWAY-DAY

Paul/Sockman enters another house and climbs the stairs to accomplish another mission.

PAUL’S DAD (V.O) CONTINUED:

You see when Paul was young, he would often…misplace things; whether that be a toy or a piece of clothing

Cowboy shot and front shot of Paul climbing stairs and identifying which room to enter.

PAUL’S DAD (V.O) CONTINUED:

Well one day, his habit meant he left a sock. This sock (STARES OFF INTO SPACE) has been responsible for all the evil and bad things that have happened to my family.

Paul enters bedroom, opens bag and enters sock draw to repair lonesome socks

PAUL’S DAD (V.O) CONTINUED:

I created the Sockmonster. He doesn’t exist. I used him to distract my son from taking the blame. At age ten, what are you more likely to believe? That you left a sock and now your mother is dead or that a Sockmonster left it. Haven’t you found you have odd socks?!

Paul hears noise from down stairs and thinks the home-owner is home. He goes to check and finds that there is a sock trail all down the stairs. Paul begins to hyperventilate/have panic attack

CUT/FADE TO:

INT-INTERVIEW ROOM-DAY

Paul’s dad takes deep breath and shuts his eyes

PAUL’S DAD:

I never knew that his self-induced ostracization would lead to these delusions

CUT/END

 

 

 

-HM

Development Update 2...

A short video of us talking about our project so far and future plans...enjoy! Video Diary


-KW

Short Film: Distribution...

I believe the distribution of our film would fit successfully within the mainstream market. Just like the synergy used in the feature length film 'TED' ( Click Here) of merchandise E.G. the bear TED, and the film; I see out short film using a similar technique - the synergy of the short film and of merchandise such as socks and it could be seasonal for example at Christmas, stockings could be a part of the franchise. It could be argued that the short film would be a success on the independent market because it covers issues of a sensitive nature; however, I think the way the mental health issue (Schizophrenia) is covered is in a mainstream way as it glamourises the disorder by not displaying the harsh reality of living with the disorder.
I also believe the short film would gain the largest attention if it were to be uploaded on the internet where it will gain an audience seeking such material and with the rise of Web 2.0 it is easier than it ever has been to access and share short films. It allows for it to be spread virally through Social Network (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr), which could be argued as the most important way to share information and art.


-HM

Short Film: A short synopsis...

From young, Character A (currently no name has been decided), was the under the illusion that the Sockmonster had left an odd sock on the top of the stairs, which his mother tripped over, fell and died. In reality, the Sockmonster was a fable created by character A's father to hide and reconstuct his memeory as to how she really died, which was by Character A leaving his odd sock accidentally.
The short film follows Character A on his mission to catch this Sockmonster. We are situated not only with Character A's of obsession with finding the Sockmonster, but also his compassion reunite lonesome socks with their missing partner - He believes this will not only benefit the owner, but everyone because it will prevent others from plunging to their own death. Character A's legacy leads him to great deal of legal trouble and his back story gains him little sympathy from the police, but they let him go under strict orders to find the truth about this so called Sockmonster. His father also plays a key role in telling the story. He explains to the documentary crew, that his fabrication of the Sockmonster got 'out-of-hand' as Character A got older. His father thought that he had forgotten about the Sockmonster as Character A grew up, when truthfully Character A had created a delusion based upon hallucinations he suffered as an older child and teenagers -symptoms of Schizophrenia


-HM

Audience Research...

We decided we needed to gather some primary research to find out the general trends of people's opinions on short films. We gathered a variety of ages to participate and asked questions like:
"Do you watch Short Films?"
"Whats your favourite genre of film?"
"If you do watch short films, where do you watch them?"
"Where would you expect to see a short film?"
"What would you expect to see in a short film?"
And so on.
I feel that this reasearch has helped us because now we know what sorts of ages are most likely to watch short films, so we can aim to use them as a target audience. We also now know where people are mostly likely to consume short films and what the mostly watched genre is, so we can tailor ours to fit the needs of the consumers.

Here is our video

-KW

Narrative...

Narrative in films concerns the structure of the film. A linear narrative, for example, is when a story has a beginning, middle and end, and in that specific order. This may seem the norm for most films but this narrative structure becomes broken instantly with the appearance of a dream or flashback etc. The other type of narrative is non-linear narrative. This is not the same as a film containing flashbacks, however, even though it seems that way. This is because films containing flashbacks or even flashforwards usually always jumps back to the point it left off in the story, therefore they usually continue to follow the linear structure.

A non-linear narrative is one that does not proceed in a straight line or in a step-by-step fashion. This could be where an author creates the ending of a story before the middle part is over. A classic example of this would be the 1994 cult classic Pulp Fiction, in which the film seems to be three seperate stories, but upon closer inspection they are actually three sections of one story with the chronology broken up- there aren't any flashbacks actually involved.

Linear and non-linear narrative is also a main feature of short films. The most commonly used form of narrative in short films is linear. This is most likely because short films are, well, short, and overcomplicating the story line with a complicated non-linear narrative whilst intriguing and entertaining the audience member at the same time can be very tricky, so its best to stick to the simplest and easiest form. A good example of a short film with a linear narrative is Spider:

In this product, the story follows a simple straight line with no interjections from flashbacks, it starts with the start and ends with the end. Simple.


-KW

Development Update 1...

Here is a short video diary we shot describing how far our project has developed, ideas we have and future plans:

Video Diary

-KW

Short Film Idea 4...

Following on from our idea of the OCD burgular, we searched to see if there were any examples we could use in our research, and we found that sadly, our idea had already been attempted (not very well, but still, its been done). Using some creativity, we came up with this instead...

Keeping with the idea of OCD and burglary, we came up with a concept which we have titled, "Confessions of a Sock-a-Holic". The story follows a young man who dresses up as a super hero named 'The sock man' and breaks into people's houses at night, as a burgular would, and rummages through someone's sock drawer and re-pairs all odd socks.
Paul Smith is a young schizophrenic who has suffered from delusions and hallucinations about the 'Sock Monster' ever since his father told him about the scarce fable to cover up the truth over his mothers death. In the style of a documentary, the crew follow Paul and they find out that he has an obsession with re-pairing odd socks that have been stolen by the 'sock monster' and with finding this theif once and for all. Paul's father is keen to tell his side of the story. Frim his interview we discover that the 'sock monster' was a one off story to stop Paul from taking the blame for his mother slipping on an odd sock at the top of the stairs which he accidentally dropped.


-KW

Scene From Narnia...



Narnia:The Lampost Scene

Just for a bit of practice in shooting a piece longer than an opening, we were given a script which was taken from the famous lampost scene in Narnia, where Lucy meets Mr. Tumnus for the first time under a lampost in snowy Narnia. Making the best of the situation and the resources available, (limited time/locations/actors) here is our *half* finished product:

Click Here


-KW

Short Film Idea 3...

A second idea that we discussed featured a man, probably in his early 30s-late 20s, who dressed all in black and was your typical 'burgular'. However, this man (unnamed) has an extreme case of OCD, which causes him to be very uncomfortable in messy and cluttered rooms, giving him an overwhelming need to tidy up and make sure everything is perfect. As you can probaby guess, he would proceed to break into people's houses and his OCD would take over. So instead of robbing the strangers house, he would give it a thorough clean instead. The idea that he would be downstairs quietly but aggressively polishing the silverwear or scrubbing the floor when the family who's house has been broken into, come downstairs having heard a noise and see him cleaning would help to give the short film a comedic affect which I think would work quite well. I also liked the fact that it would be addressing quite a serious topic- OCD- in a lighthearted, humerous way. You can't feel sorry for him because his intention was to steal.

I'm also really fond of the idea of creating a short film that is plot driven instead of dialogue/character driven, such as Simon Hynd's 'Virus' or 'The Elevator' by Greg Glienna (above).


-KW

Foreign and Eye-Opening Shorts...

Recently I watched a couple of short films that I came across on Tumblr, which really inspired me and made me think differently. Both of these shorts centred around what the world would be like if everything was flipped over and rules and norms about gender and sex were switched. The first film I watched was intriguingly titled "What if gay were straight and straight were gay?". This film shows the life of a young girl who is going through a sexuality crisis. In a imaginery world where being gay is the norm and being straight is mocked and 'wrong', this young girl is coming to terms with the fact that she might fancy boys instead of girls, which is expected of her.

 This film really moved me because it is a gritty showing of what life would be like if straight people were treated as harshly as parts of society treat homosexuals. This short os about 20 minutes long-much longer than I plan for my short film to be, but I would hope to bring to my short film what this one has. For many people, shorts like this could be a real eye-opener because we know that the main girl is not in the wrong by being attracted to boys even if she is treated in the film as if she is. Films like this aim to improve the thoughts of society and if the message is clear, they can be very successful and moving.

Another short film I stumbled across was called "Opressed Majority". This 10-minute short displays what the outcome would be if males were exposed to sexism and sexual violence in a society dominated by females. In this film, a typical father is carrying out his everyday duties. He starts by taking a walk with his child in a pram, not even taking a second glance at women running alongside him topless and shouting crude comments to him. This film tries to represent, in almost an exaggerated way, how sexism effects women and tries to put forward this perspective to men. Later in the short, the man is exposed to sexual violence by a gang of women and then speaks to a police man after viewing a line-up. His wife gets angry at him and leaves. While the thought of men being sexually abused by women and not being taken seriously by policeman for making the claims, these types of things do happen in real life- to men and to women. Also, this film is shot in France and the actors are speaking in French. I think this is effective as it shows that this type of opression is present in all parts of the world and not just in the UK. It also shows how the conventions of a short film are not different in other countries.

 

 

 

-KW

 

Short Film Idea 2...

Taking inspiration from short films such as 'Virus' and 'The Black Hole', I came up with the idea of someone waiting for something. Sounds a bit boring. I developed that so that a man (or woman) could be waiting in a long queue at the bank, and while he is waiting in the queue, time seems to go really slowly, but the queue never seems to shorten.
I then thought it would be funny if strange things were to happen to him all the while he was in the queue. For example, he could be in the queue for a lengthy period of time, thinking to himself, "this is so boring", and then suddenly, two men come barging through attempting to rob the bank. A stir is caused and everyone panics, but then the police arrive and the two men are escorted away, leaving the bank unscathed. The queue is still the same length. Then maybe theres a minor earthquake, causing everyone to panic, but it sover fairly quickly and the only thing damaged is a knocked-over plant. The queue still proceeds. Then a man walks in and proposes to his wife, who is stood 3 or so places ahead of the main character in the queue. Everyone cheers and the woman steps out of the queue, making it shorter. Things continue randomly like this for a while. The scene fades to the main character being next in line for the assistant- it is dark outside. The person in front leaves and he strides up to the window, only to be greeted by the female assistant slamming the glass door shut. He reads a sign saying that the bank is closed for the night and to come back tomorrow.

This idea would be quite funny in an ironic way, however it would be difficult recreating a bank (as I highly doubt we'd be allowed to use a real one) and finding that many actors to play a role would also be challenging. But still, it could work.


-KW