Film Studies and Cinematography

FILM STUDIES AND CINEMATOGRAPHY

Tuesday,Sep. 24 .2024

24.09.2024 - 21.10.2024 | Week 1 - Week 4

Jia Wenbing /0365436/

Design principles/Bachelor of Design in Creative Media

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INSTRUCTIONS

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LECTURES

WEEK  1

In the first week, the teacher briefly introduced the main content of this module and the basic content of Film Studies and Cinematography. He also introduced the tasks we would do each week.

Fig.1.1 Module content introduction

WEEK  2

This week, we're going to talk about how to create your own story content. When writing a story, you can connect with people on an emotional level and bring personal experiences to the story to make it more readable. Read more books to inspire your imagination and enter the stories we want to explore. In movies, metaphors can be added to make the movie story more meaningful.

• World and characters are the basic elements of storytelling.

• The world can be a metaphor for deeper themes, such as growing up in Toy Story.

• Characters should be fascinating and compelling, even if the world takes a back seat.

• In story development, some artists prioritize characters, while others prioritize world.

• The best stories are created when world and characters intersect.

Fig.1.2 Storytelling

WEEK  3

This week is all about character development, a section that explores how to make the audience care about a character by putting them in difficult situations.

When creating a character, build your character's personality through the elevator test,understanding how they react in a crisis. Characters should be deeplyflawed but interesting.

Character Development: The goal of character development is to create fully developed characters that the audience can empathize with, and this can be explored through external traits and internal characteristics.

Character Desires: It is crucial to understand what the character wants and needs.

Fig.1.3 Character

WEEK  4

Describe the Three Act Structure

The Three Act Structure is a narrative framework that divides a story into three main parts:

Act I (Setting Up): Introduces the characters, setting, and main conflict. It establishes the tone of the story and sets the stage for what follows.

Act II (Confrontation): This is the longest part, where the protagonist faces challenges and obstacles. As the characters react to and struggle with the conflict, the tension builds until the climax.

Act III (Resolution): The climax occurs, leading to the resolution of the conflict. Loose issues are resolved and the character arcs are brought to a close.

Explain the process of using a storyline to structure a story

The storyline is a tool for constructing a coherent narrative. It is a series of statements that guide the development of the plot. Typically, it follows this structure:

• Once upon a time, there was… (introducing the protagonist and setting
• Every day,… (describing the characters’ daily lives before the story’s conflict)
• Until one day… (introducing the Inciting Incident, the event that disrupts the status quo)
• So… (describing the consequences and actions taken by the characters)
• So… (further consequences, escalating actions, and complications)
• Until finally… (climax or turning point)
• From then on… (resolution and restoration of the new normal or status quo)
• Write out the story structure based on the story

Using the storyline, you can outline the structure of any story, identifying key moments such as the Inciting Incident, Rising Action, Climax, and Resolution. This exercise helps break down the narrative into its basic components, making it easier to organize and understand the flow of events in the story.

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PROJECT-1

This task requires us to write a two-minute short story content.

I wrote a story about a pet dog based on my own experience. My dog ​​was lost. It was a Border Collie. My family and I loved it very much. But one night, it ran out of the house and got lost. We haven't found it yet. I was very sad, so I wrote a story about it, hoping that it would be safe.

Story summary:

In a quiet suburb of a city, Mido, a border collie, is a lively, smart and very naughty dog. Mido lives with his owner Amy. Mido is not only her pet, but also her loyal friend and emotional sustenance. Amy is very busy at work, and Mido is her only company. Although the relationship between Amy and Mido is very close, Mido still longs for more freedom, especially at night, Mido always wants to explore places that he can't reach during the day.

However, one night, Mido got lost because of his playfulness. After a series of adventures and challenges, he learned responsibility and belonging, and Amy gradually understood that the deep emotions between pets and humans are not only dependence, but also mutual understanding and support. With the theme of warmth and growth, the film depicts the relationship between Mido and Amy, and how they regain each other's trust and intimacy in this adventure.

 

Main characters:

•  Mido: A smart, naughty and curious Border Collie. It is not only Amy's loyal partner, but also an adventurous dog. Although it sometimes gets into trouble because of its playfulness and curiosity, it deeply loves its owner Amy.

• Amy: Mido's owner, a young urban female white-collar worker, with a gentle personality and attaches great importance to family and pets. Mido is her only support in life. Amy often worries about Mido's playfulness, but she gradually realizes that Mido is not only dependent on her existence, but also a life that needs freedom and adventure.

• Jimmy: Amy's neighbor, an adventure lover in his teenage years. Jimmy has a good relationship with Mido and often plays with it. Although he is young, he cares about Mido's safety very much

• Lao Li: After Mido disappeared, the retired old man in the community helped to find him. He has a dog named Blue. Although Lao Li is old, he is still full of energy and knowledgeable. He passed on his experience and wisdom to Amy and Jimmy.

 

Chapter 1: Perfect Night

On a warm summer night, Amy and Mido took a walk together in the quiet suburbs of the city, enjoying the peaceful night sky. The air was filled with the scent of grass, the stars dotted the dark sky, and the breeze was blowing. Mido ran in front, running excitedly on the grass, chasing the night wind. Amy followed behind with a smile, talking to Mido, sighing about these simple and happy times.

However, the tranquility of this night was soon broken. Mido suddenly stopped and stared at a flash in the grass in front of him. Its curiosity drove it to run towards the unknown light. Amy called Mido's name several times, but Mido did not look back at all, and its footsteps were getting farther and farther.

Amy's heart tightened and she began to chase Mido. However, as time went by, she gradually lost her way, and Mido gradually disappeared into the night.

Chapter 2: The beginning of the search

After returning home, Amy was extremely anxious, with fear and helplessness in her eyes. She quickly called her neighbor Jimmy and asked for his help. Jimmy immediately jumped on his bicycle, took a flashlight and Mido's favorite toys, and began to search in the nearby streets and parks.

At the same time, retired Lao Li also decided to help after hearing the news. Lao Li was not young, but he was experienced and joined the search team with his dog Blue. He told Amy and Jimmy that Mido might have been led away by some unknown attraction and might have been lost in a corner of the city.

Amy, Jimmy, Lao Li and Blue started a tense search together. Everyone searched everywhere on the streets, parks, and grass, but there was no trace of Mido. Amy began to feel desperate and tears flowed down involuntarily.

However, Jimmy and Lao Li remained optimistic. They knew that Mido was just lost, and as long as they persisted, they would definitely find it.

 

Chapter 3: Mido's Adventure

Meanwhile, Mido has left Amy's side and started a wonderful adventure. He walked through a large meadow, explored the corners of the city, and met all kin

ds of animals and people. He greeted a stray cat and tried to establish friendship with it; he also met a group of curious squirrels and played a game of chase.

However, Mido soon realized that the world was not as safe as he thought. He encountered several wild dogs, who were obviously unfriendly to Mido and surrounded him, showing their sharp teeth. Mido was terrified and fled around, and finally hid in an abandoned alley.Curled in a corner, Mido began to feel lonely and scared. He missed Amy, her arms and her comfort. Mido began to realize that although he had an adventurous spirit, what he needed most was home.

 

Chapter 4: Conflict and Rescue

Amy, Jimmy and Lao Li's search gradually turned to an abandoned alley, where Mido was last seen. Just as they were about to go deeper into the alley, Blue suddenly let out a low roar, alerting them to the danger nearby.

Suddenly, a group of wild dogs jumped out of the dark and pounced on them. Jimmy and Lao Li tried to scare the wild dogs away with flashlights and sticks, but they obviously did not intend to retreat easily. Amy and Jimmy became more and more nervous, and Amy's eyes were full of fear. She was worried that Mido might be hurt.

At the critical moment, Blue rushed up with extraordinary courage, confronted the wild dogs, and distracted them. Mido took the opportunity to run out from the other side of the alley and rushed into Amy's arms. Amy could hardly believe her eyes. She hugged Mido tightly and felt its warm body.

"Miduo, you're back..." Amy whispered, tears flowing down like a dam breaking.

Mido rubbed Amy with his head, as if telling her that he also wanted to go home.

 

Chapter 5: Reunion and Reconciliation

Back home, Mido is exhausted. Amy wipes the dirt off him and feeds him water. Jimmy and Lao Li are also watching over him, chatting about what just happened. Everyone sits together in the living room, enjoying the warmth of the night, and the moonlight outside shines in, illuminating this peaceful night.

Although Mido's disappearance makes Amy very anxious, she also begins to understand Mido's desire - it is not just a pet that depends on her, but also a life with its own free will and desire for adventure. Amy realizes that Mido needs more space to explore and experience, and she also needs to learn to let go and trust that Mido can find his way home.

 

Chapter 6: Open Ending

The next day, Amy decided to go for a walk with Mido, but this time, she was more careful than before. Mido was still lively, but he was no longer so eager to explore. He looked back at Amy from time to time, as if to say, "I won't leave you."

However, when they walked across the grass, Mido suddenly stopped and looked at the park in the distance. There was a hint of curiosity and hesitation in his eyes. Amy looked at him with a smile, she knew that Mido would continue to pursue his adventure, but he would also return to her when needed.

At the end of the movie, Mido looked back at Amy, then turned and walked deep into the park. Amy stood there, watching his back with a smile on her face, as if silently blessing his adventure.

Based on the teacher’s feedback, all the content was revised to make it clearer and the sequence was organized and clarified.

Fig.1.1 Project 1-Story outline

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FEEDBACK

WEEk 3:

My story should be shorter and less focused. I shouldn't describe the owner's behavior too much, and keep it short. The focus should be on the dog. I should write a solid story about the dog and briefly describe other things. I don't need so many characters, just the main character and the supporting characters.

WEEk 6:

I reorganized and revised the story according to the story line. Mr. Kamal said that my story was very clear, but the content needed to be revised a little bit. The contradictions should be written more clearly so that readers and viewers can better understand why the protagonist did this.

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REFLECTION

By learning and applying the 3-act structure and story reconstruction (story spine), I have a deeper understanding of story structure. As a classic narrative framework, the 3-act structure helps me sort out the development of the story: the first act lays the foundation for the story, the second act is full of conflicts and challenges, and the third act brings the climax and ending. The clarity of this structure allows me to more clearly understand the functions and roles of each part when creating and analyzing the story.

Especially sentence reconstruction, it allows me to understand the beginning and end of a story from a macro perspective through a series of concise sentences. Through a simple framework like "Once upon a time...until one day...", I found that the core of each story contains the process from frequent to this conflict and then to resolution. The structure makes it easier for me to

This process also made me realize that writing is not only a free creation process, but also an art with rules and structure. It requires not only creativity, but also reasonable construction and planning. This study gave me more confidence to try to design and organize stories by myself, and also made me clearer when conceiving stories.

In general, the learning experience not only allowed me to master specific narrative skills, but also deepened my understanding of the story creation process. In the future, when I write scripts or create stories, I will pay more attention to structure and rhythm, and strive to create a more attractive and logical story.