Plumtree

Stephen, there is a fantastic amount of work that has gone into this blog so far and your ideas are really coming together nicely. Don't forget to post some analyses of short films so that you can show codes and conventions of this genre and where you may conform or challenge these conventions.

Costume

These are the costumes needed for the two characters in the film. They are mostly basic office wear but both have slight hints towards the biblical characters.

Prop List

All the props that I need for my short film. A lot of these props are in the background and used to help  with the Mise-en-Secne.

Storyboard

After my third draft, I decided to draw out my storyboard to get a better idea of the different camera angles and framing throughout to keep the film visually interesting. I drew these out individually and then scanned them in.

Script - Third Draft

After a while, I did another revision of my script. Other than a few touch ups, I mainly wanted to focus on the characters and flesh them out a bit more in the short space of time. I also added a title page.

Script - Second Draft

I later revised my script. I wanted to improve the formatting, as well as making the story more coherent and allowing the jokes to land better. I also decided on a name for the film: 'Divine Intervention' which has connotations with Jesus as well as being set at a work intervention.

Script - First Draft

I decided to write my script on a software called Celtix for Mac. This was my first time writing a screenplay so it the formatting was not entirely correct.

Notebook

I decided to jot down lots of notes and ideas relating to my idea of biblical characters in an office environment. This ranged from office lingo to background information about the characters.

It reads:

Commonly asked questions

-       Which job do you enjoy most/least?

-       Job satisfaction & role alignment

-       What kind of professional development or training opportunities interest you?

-       What motivates you to get your job done?

-       What can I do to make your job even more enjoyable?

-       What do you most like about working for this company?

Leadership Effectiveness

-       What attributes do you think makes a good leader and who displays these?

-       If you were leading this organisation, what would you do differently?

-       How do you like to receive feedback on your work?

-       If a new leader was to start tomorrow what advice on leading a team would you give them?

-       What can we do to improve our employer/management communication?

Feeling Valued

-       Do you prefer private or public recognition?

-       What type of career growth is most important to you?

Work Environment

-       How & when do you do your best work?

-       What are the ideal working conditions for you to be most productive?

-       What are your biggest obstacles to getting your work done?

-       What tools/tech would make your job easier?

-       What do you appreciate most about our workplace?

Office Buzzwords

-       Singing from the same hymn sheet

-       Blue sky thinking

-       Think outside the box

-       Touch base

-       Close of play

-       Going forward

-       No brainer

-       Action that

-       Drill down

-       Thought shower

-       Flogging a dead horse

-       Hot desking

-       On my radar

-       Joined up thinking

-       Bring to the table

-       Punch a puppy

-       Run this up the flagpole

-       Cracking the whip

-       Moving the goal posts

-       EOP (End of play)

-       Working fingers to the bone

-       Game changer

-       It’s not rocket science

-       Hit the ground running

-       Ping

-       Low hanging fruit

-       Strategic staircase

-       Park something

-       COB (Close of business)

-       Reinventing the wheel

-       Dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s

-       Best practices

-       Al desko

-       Put something on the back burner

-       Pick it up and run with it

-       Play hard ball

-       This idea has legs

-       Synergy

-       I’m swamped

-       Win-win

-       Look under the bonnet

-       Quick and dirty

-       Peel the onion

-       Out of the loop

-       Wow factor

-       Helicopter view

-       Elevator pitch

St Peter

-       Also known as Simon Peter

-       Apostle of the apostles

-       First pope

-       Often represented holding keys and a book representing the gospel

-       Fisherman

-       Keys of Heaven

-       Rooster

-       Crucified upside down

-       Buried in St Peter’s basilica in the Vatican

-       Brother called Andrew – Also an apostle

-       He denied Jesus three times and the rooster crowed

-       Crucified by Nero in Rome

-       Became a preacher after Jesus died

-       Crucified upside down because he didn’t believe he was worthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus

-       His name means Rock or stone

-       Jesus changed his name to Peter

-       ‘Fishers of Men’

-       Witnessed walking on water

-       At last supper, Peter refused to let Jesus wash his feet

-       Cut off ear of servant of high priest when Jesus was arrested – Jesus healed – last miracle

-       Matthew 16:13 – 19 Rock dialogue: Peter is rock on which the new church will built

-       Jesus gave him keys to heaven in same passage

-       Peter is the exemplar of little faith – ‘Ye of little faith’

-       Peter is the first to go into the empty tomb

Pearly Gates

-       Informal name for Gateway to Heaven

-       Comes from Revelations, 12 gates with 12 pearls

-       Modern image: Set of large gates in the clouds guarded by St Peter

-       Those denied by Peter sent into Hell

-       In some versions Peter looks at names in a book

Mindmaps

After deciding to do a mockumentory, I decided I wanted to do a high concept piece. This involves taking something bizarre and unfamiliar and placing it in a  setting or situation that is very familiar. I did some mind maps to help get all my ideas down.

Mockumentary Analysis - Arrested Development

Arrested Development (2003 - 2006, 2013 - ) is a TV comedy based around the Bluth family. This find themselves going from owning a successful company to being publicly shamed after the head of the family, George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), is arrested for "light treason". The show ran for three seasons under Fox and then was picked up again by Netflix for a fourth season, with a fifth on the way.

The shows format is very different from other mockumentaries or comedies. It uses a narrator played by the show runner, Ron Howard, who could be considered a 'Detached Observer'. The narrator is played as if they also narrated National Geographic documentaries to help give it the documentary feel. These are often done in a comedic manor:

Narrator: And, so, like many people who no longer felt anything for each other, they decided to get married.

- Season 3, Episode 10, Fakin' it


Narrator: George Michael stumbled across a boy of love letter he had written, but never sent, to his cousin Maybe. One of these, entitles "If you weren't my Cousin" was particularly incriminating.

- Season 2, Episode 8, Queen for a Day


Other than simply explaining what is going on within the story, the narrator often is used to help compliment the jokes:

Michael: Okay, that would be disgusting if you'd actually slept with her, but I don't think you did.

GOB: I did. And it was disgusting.

Narrator: They didn't, but it would have been.

- Season 2, Episode 13, Motherboy XXX

Michael: You know she's amazing. You know she was in the Olympics?

Narrator: She wasn't.

Lindsay: She's that Rita Leeds? Wasn't she on the cover of Newsweek?

Narrator: No.

Michael: Yes.

- Season 3, Episode 5, Mr F

GOB: I have... feelings for you.

Tony: I have feelings... for you.

Narrator: The feeling was friendship. But, neither of them had ever experienced it.

- Season 4, Episode 11,  A New Attitude


The narrator isn't the only feature of Arrested Development that makes it a mockumentary. There are also techniques where flashbacks are shown in separate frames as if they were filmed a while ago. There is often a joke where a "footage not found." card is put on screen after a character states something:

- Season 1, Episode 22, Let 'Em Eat Cake

The entire show also has a very loose feel to it. For example, in an interview, Ron Howard stated that he wanted the camera to be very loose and not be stuck to one position. This allowed the actors to control the scene and dictate what happened. It also it so the camera was never entirely still which gave the show much more of a feel of a documentary.

Mockumentary Analysis - Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation (2009 - 2015 ) is a TV comedy based around the Parks and Rec department of a local government. The show focuses on the extremely passionate deputy director, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), and the larger than life cast of characters and the struggles they face. The show ran for seven seasons under CBS ending its run in January of 2015.

Parks and Recreation started its run as another mockumentary - very akin to The Office - but after its first season, started to drift away from that format. At the beginning, even the characters fit similar archetypes to characters from The Office and adopted many different techniques to create the feel of a documentary, but as the show gained its own identity, many of these techniques started to disappear.

The show tended to only use the mockumentary format when it was necessary, for example, talking heads were commonly used to elaborate on jokes or give a further insight into the character's personality but the camera operators and crew weren't treated like they were a character in the show. There would still be moments where characters would look into the camera in a state of confusion (particularly by Ben) but other than that it wasn't really acknowledged.

This also allowed freedom to get more intimate with the characters. For example when Leslie and Ben share their first kiss, this is allowed to be shot in a close up to allow us to connect with the characters' emotions better. In other mockumentaries this may have been shot from within a bush or behind cover to make the audience feel like they shouldn't be watching or that the conversation is private.

As a comparison, here is a section from the shows earlier seasons compared to its later seasons:



- Season 2, Episode 9, The Camel



- Season 6, Episode 1, London: Part 1

Mockumentary Analysis - The Office

The Office (2001 - 2003 ) is a TV comedy based around an office in Slough that faces closure as the company starts to downsize. The boss, David Brent (Ricky Gervais), desperately tries to make the office appear better than it is for the film crew. The show ran for three seasons under BBC ending its run in 2003.

This show is commonly regarded as the first mockumentary and is perhaps one of the best examples of one. Throughout the show, characters are always aware of the film crew and often play up to the camera. For example, David will often try to make himself look better so that the viewers of the documentary will see him that way. Different character's react to the crew differently, for example, the cleaner is always standing motionless staring directly at the camera.

The show also uses techniques such as zooms and pans to try and catch all the reactions of characters and uses them for comedic purposes. It tries to make the whole situation look as realistic a possible and uses dull lighting and general office noises to help achieve this. Often in scenes that are private conversations between two characters, it will be filmed from behind something to hide create the sense of privacy. The characters will also sometimes take off their microphones to avoid being heard.

Much like Arrested Development, the camera is constantly moving to try and catch all the action. This also allows the actors more freedom to move around as the cameras will just follow where they go.