Research: Preliminary Work

I was tasked with creating a short movie during my preliminary work. I took inspiration from short 1 minute movies which contained a single character. Having 1 actor and only needing a camera allowed me to make the entire short movie by myself.

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I had a look at how these movies were made:

- What made them funny?

* There were no voice lines in these short films except a few grunts. So finding out what made them entertaining/fun was the concept of these short films. The way the characters proceed with their day using the idea brought up in the film.

- What sounds/props were used?

* Props could be anything from a simple sheet of paper to a slice of bread. Lighting for example stayed consistent during the Dust short movie while in Toast the lighting changed depending on what item was being used.

*I took the idea of simplicity and decided that props and lighting would not be extremely useful/needed. Instead I would use what was already in a room or what was at hand.

- Is it better to make a short movie with a single actor or multiple?

* The majority of the short films I have watched contained a single actor. I think it is very important to take into consideration that having multiple actors means you need to worry about multiple criteria:

**What is the condition of the actors and can we get them all on shoot today? **Do we have to create a voice line sheet for all the actors or will they remember what to say on the spot without knowing the lines before hand. * On the other hand I feel that having one actor allows for more flexibility. If the single actor is sick you can always postpone to another day which is harder to do with a bigger group of actors. If your actor forgot the lines you don't have to worry because you can improvise some new lines or in this case you don't need to remember any lines.

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The inspiration I had to make my own short movie came from 2 short movies where the action happened inside a home or office building. The simplicity caught my attention and is what I tried to do while creating my movie.

The first one is a simple short film which requires the character to find a way to make toast: 'Toast' - One Minute Comedy Film | Award Winning - YouTube

The second short movie depicts a bored office worker accidentally creating a black hole on a piece of paper which he uses to complete certain tasks: Sci-Fi Short Film “The Black Hole" | DUST - YouTube

Combining all of my research I came up with a short movie about the internet cutting out!