Story Elements to Step Outline

Character

The main character is nice guy, but considered a loser in school by the "popular" kids. He lives his life in solitude. He wants to meet new people, yet does not make any efforts in doing so. He often gets bullied, but never crumbles because he has dealt with and is used to years of torture by his classmates. 

Relationship

There isn't a single person in the world who he believes could save him from his miserable life except the girl of his dreams. He draws her and stares at her all day long. For this reason, his grades are low. He believes he loves yet the girl doesn't even acknowledge his existence. She seems kind, but never directly addresses the boy.  

Setting

The story is set in today's time. Some shots in the film will include:

- classroom (s)

- hallway

- mountain or any deserted exterior area

- on the stairs

Backstory

The boy is considered a loser because he fails at everything he does and he really does annoy others sometimes. Weather it is sports or school work, his focus is somewhere else, mainly on the girl he wishes to impress. At school, he is routinely bullied. It is so constant that he has completely realized that telling other will only result in more beatings. Him acting obnoxious is just a way for him tell the world that punches he received to the face did not really effect him at all. It is clear that it is a lie because he secretly cries at night and in the bathroom. It is also later revealed that the bully is gay. 

Goal

His goal is to impress the girl of his dreams and become someone influential in High School or in the World. 

Obstacle

The main physical obstacle in his way is the bully. The bully has been harassing him from very early on in his life and has continued to do so in High School. Also, the girl he wants to impress is "dating" the bully who injures him. The internal obstacle for him is getting over his self-esteem. He thinks very low of himself and his life. In this film, he even tries to commit suicide, but cannot bring himself to do it because he is a coward. 

Time

The story is not in chronological order. But it is for the most part. The film will most likely begin with the character trying to commit suicide and not being able to do it. There will also be a dream sequence where all his goals have come true. 

The Unknown

After his attempt to kill himself, he will curse at himself for not being man enough and being to much of a coward to kill himself. He cries and begs and asks God in desperation for something in his life to give it meaning. He wishes for something that could bring him out of his misery. 

Discovery

When the bully is trying to beat him up, he is afraid to get hit again and says "no, please no, STOP!." The boy realizes that time itself has frozen. He is able to move, but the others are stuck when he said "stop." He uses this newly discovered power in a way that is only beneficial to him and is actually incredibly selfish. He explains his new power to the girl who immediately decides to be his "girlfriend" and they could get rich and she could have all the new bags and shoes in the world. The boy is extremely happy and returns home. This is where the climax occurs where he accidentally freezes himself. 

Mood

The mood of this short film needs to be dark. It could with bright colors and slowly move to darkened colors to highlight the mental and some physical changes within the character and as the audience gets more of an understanding of the boy. 

Scenes:

1. Extreme close-up (almost macro) shorts of the actor saying things like "Do it! Just do it!" before the opening reveal shot.

2. At school, the boy tells the bully who is pushing him around "go back to your group of boyfriends." They bully is bad says "you little..." and begins to punch him until he is stopped by a teacher.

3. He looks at the girl and goes into a dream sequence. 

4. At night he cries.

5. He uses his power to punch the bully while he is frozen.

6. He is stealing money.
7. He freezes himself by saying freeze and pointing at a mirror.

Dramatic Intent:

1. Build suspense and make the audience want to know what is happening. 

2. Shows that bullies beat the boy at every chance he attempts to put them down. He is in a way used to the punishment because he knows he has to run away and once caught he does not fight back. He had admitted defeat already.

3. This illustrates his desires and they are not easy to achieve, especially for him. 

4. This reveals that he tries to hide his emotions from the world because he feels no one will care. 

5. The audience is satisfied because he finally has the opportunity to express his suppressed feelings. 

6. Make the audience know that his power is getting to his head
7. Reveals how abuse of powers can lead to consequences. 

Characterization - Tyler Durden

If you haven't seen Fight Club, it is highly recommended you check out this masterpiece directed by David Fincher. This analysis is spoiler free of what makes that move great.





Tyler Durden is a character in the cult classic film Fight Club, which is based on a novel by the same name by Chuck Palahniuk.

Tyler Druden is unique. He is the sole definition of chaos. Throughout the movie, he serves as a foil to the narrator because he isn't just the person the narrator wants to be, but also what society thinks a  real man should be. Tyler describes himself as "smart, capable...[and] free..." He walks and talks like there is no tomorrow; he accepts that his life will end someday. He's the type of person who will pee in your soup, which he does in the film. He is the type of person who dresses with nice shirt and leather jacket with a businessman's suitcase yet jumps into a convertible and takes it for himself.  For these reasons he is idolized by every character he meets in the story especially the unnamed narrator. With all these things in his favor, you'd expect the man to give in you his societies expectations, but that's what makes him unique. Tyler Durden is charismatic which is why he becomes the creator of a dirty underground club known simply as "Fight Club."

Durden knows from the very beginning that he is not the center of world nor is any other "average" man who keeps to his own. He is willing to do anything he can to prove to society that their lives are meaningless to everyone else. Only after this, men will be able to live as free men. This is clearly evident in a scene where he speaks through a megaphone to his new "project members" and says:

"You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everything else."





In a sense, Tyler is also extremely psychopathic, even for running an underground fight club, leading a group  that causes mayhem in order to complete what he calls "Project Mayhem." He is an anarchist, willing to use lethal methods to convey his message.

The scene I decided to look at is called "Human Sacrifice." This scene clearly illustrates the disturbing yet somehow caring nature of Tyler Durden.



What Tyler wants to do is make people realize that they are not important to anyone else in the world. He wants them to understand this and accept it and only then people will began to live their lives to the fullest. In the film, he says "First you have to give up, first you have to know...not fear...know...that someday you're gonna die." He also wants to take the focus off of the movie stars and celebrities we look up to and look at ourselves first. "It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything." This is clearly evident in this scene. Tyler's goal is to make the man being robbed realize how easily life an come to end. Throughout the whole movie Tyler lives his life likes its his last day, which makes every moment exciting and meaningful for him and that's how he wants this man to feel for the rest of his life. He highlights that you only get one live, why not do what you want to do.

Not just in this scene, but the whole movie, Tyler is struggles between how to convey his message. Although the audience doesn't see his struggle, it is evident from how many different ways he has tried. In this scene, he threats the man by pointing a gun at his head and making him realize how working at a convenient store will not take him anywhere. The threat of pulling the trigger makes the man realize that he need to reflect on his life and go back to get education to do what he wanted to do in the first place, which is to become veterinarian.

Panasonic announces the GH3

This past week camera companies have gone on a rampage and announced quite a few cameras that they will be releasing in late 2012. The one that stood out to me the most is Panasonic, who announced the much awaited GH3. The GH2 became a giant in the indie film making community because of its hack which game the camera many features found in more expensive video cameras, but the most important being the ability to shoot at a much higher bit rate than intended. Because of this hack, the GH3 video was even compared to the RED Epic, which is a much better cinema camera used to shoot movies such as The Hobbit and The Amazing Spider-Man.  Along with many new features, this new GH3 also has the ability to shoot 60 frames per second at 1080p, which even the full framed cameras like the 5D Mark III and D800 can't even do. This 60fps at 1080p seems like the future standard of all new DSLRs. 

An image taken with the GH3. 

A short film shot with the GH3. 


For more information about the Panasonic GH3 and some other new cameras released, watch this video

Or you can visit - http://www.slrlounge.com/new-panasonic-gh3-heavyweight-mirrorless-hybrid-stills-motion-camera-in-lightweight-weather-sealed-body


Also, Hasselblad announced their new H5D series medium format camera which "will be available as models with 40, 50, and 60 megapixels as well as 50 and 200 megapixel Multi-Shot versions and will start shipping in December 2012," according to fstoppers. The cameras can only shoot photos, but if you're interested in buying one, be ready to cash out a lot of money because the cheapest comparable model to the H5D-40 is the H4D-40 and it begins with the low-low price of $17,000 without the lens.

"When You Find Me" Review

Setting

The setting is the time and place a work is set in. The short film is set in the past (1991) and the present. The past represents the imagination of a child's mind. This imagination is visualized through Lisle's playfulness from the beginning to her attempt to visit her mother in heaven by traveling in a spaceship, which in reality is a crashed plane. The present represents the cruel reality of the world which Lisle is living in as a grown-up, yet still thinking about her childhood.. The crashed plane is the one place which serves as a portal to the unknown for Lisle. The plane serves to create a unique environment for a child's imagination to bloom. Although its is broken Lisle's imagination makes it seem like it turned on and transported her to her mother. This is point in the short where her dream to meet her mother in heaven seems like it could finally become a reality.

Character

A character "can be anyone or anything,"and in this short film the main characters who drive the story forward are Lisle and Aurora. After the death of their mother, Aurora forms hatred towards Lisle who she blames for not being able to see her mother for the last time in the hospital. This newly formed separation is illustrated by the wooden pole placed in between the sisters. The young Lisle serves as a gateway for the audience into the story; her naivete of the world reflects the audience's curiosity towards the story. She is motivated to find her mother, but she doesn't understand the sad truth of the situation.  Her older self is present to bring closure to the story line and tie in all ends together involving her relationship with her sister and mother. Where Lisle is too young to understand, Aurora is old enough to have to live with the burden of how she treated her mother the last time she was alive. This hatred of herself is expressed on Lisle's actions and stays inside her until she is finally ready to let go of it as an adult. It is Lisle's innocence and the strong character motivation of both of the sisters which makes them well developed protagonists.

Backstory & Relationship

Apart from the relationship we see between the sisters, one of the most important has to be the relationship between them (specifically Aurora) and their mother. The still body of their on the shoulders of the girls' father indicate the passing of their mother. The scarf on the mother's head and the lack of hair indicated she had been fighting cancer, but this is never confirmed (maybe because it doesn't need to be). The dark circles under the father's eyes as he looks at his daughter also show his devotion to his wife. While his young children were at home, he stayed by her side until the very end. The lack of emotion for him in this scene is only a cover-up to not let his children see him in such a way, which could set a bad example for them. He wants them to stay strong, which is why he pulls out the curtains to hide the truth, even for a very small time. These bottled up emotions are never good and his breaking point in the film is every evident. When Lisle becomes lost, he is furious and the only person to let his anger out on is Aurora, who is partly to blame for the happening. He shows this emotion because he has just lost his wife just the thought of loosing a child hurts him. He couldn't do anything about his wife' s situation, but he is determined to do all he can to protect his children.

Goal

After learning that her mother has gone to heaven, Lisle makes it her goal to get to outer space to meet her mother in heaven for one more time. Obviously the is outrageous, but in her eyes anything is possible. In a dream, she sees herself traveling into outer space on a rocket ship where she finds a squid. The squids opens up and reveals a bright light from where her mother emerges. The whole sequence was made with 2D animation rather than real actors in a 3D environment to show how unrealistic her dream is. All of this signifies Lisle's behavior because it highlights for the audience to remember that Lisle is really just a little kid. When Aurora learns of this personal goal of Lisle, she is dumbstruck and doesn't understand how to explain the situation to Lisle. This situation also reminds the audience that Aurora is also a young girl and her decisions need to be looked at with that fact in mind. 

Time

Time plays a major role in this short film. The story form the girls' childhood is still very much a reality in their adult lives. All the things that needed to said have not been said and all the things that needed to be done were not completed. Lisle lives her life, but what bothers her is that she never told anyone about her experience in the plane. As an adult, she expresses her memory and how she felt in an emotional scene with Aurora. Aurora does not believe her, but it is more important for Lisle to say what she should have said many years ago than hear the acceptance from her sister. Aurora also comes to accept at the end the reasons for her anger and frustration towards Lisle as kids when their mother died. It is the anger she feels toward herself but at the time needed to find someone to blame it on. Through the passing of time, the sisters build a stronger relationship between one another. From the way Aurora complained about her job, it can be predicted that this secret was the reason that held her back form living her life to the fullest; instead, she could never find a way to forgive herself for talking to her mother in such as brutal way as a child. 

Obstacle

The obstacle in the film is portrayed not only by the gate in the graveyard, but also by the emotional scene that follows. For Lisle, the gate is point she needs to cross to get to her "spaceship" to head to outer space and find her mother in heaven. For Aurora, however, the gate is the bridge she cannot allow to cross because it only leads to more desperation. Sadly, but in a way thankfully in a way, Aurora gives in and helps her sister cross the gate to
"get to the other side." It is possible that Aurora also believes, or at least hopes, that Lisle could find a way to talk to her mother because she desperately needs to talk to her for the one last time. When she finally realizes that such things cannot exist, Lisle is out of her sight and deep into the darkness of the graveyard. The shot that follows shows Aurora behind the gate unable to get across. This shot symbolizes that Aurora feels like she is locked up behind bars because of the lack of options she has to do anything to protect her sister.

Mood & The Unknown

With the very first shot of the film, the mood seems to be calming yet depressing in a way. The film manages to begin in the middle of an action. This is a bit confusing to the audience which is part of the reason why the audience becomes interested. It s shot of a large white tree within a beautiful scene. The colors are abnormal, which takes it out of this world. All the greens  have tuned into whites. White is color usually associated with the after life, which is major motif in this film. The girl in the shot, Aurora, is wearing white to indicate that she is almost a part of the environment around her. The lack of colors and different textures makes the shot feel incredibly simplistic. This simplicity further brings the audience to a place of serenity. The color white also brings forth a positive connotation indicating that although not much is known, everything will be alright. 

10 Themes of Story Telling

This image explorers the theme of mood. A mood can be anything that can make you feel a certain way. This image creates a mood of peacefulness and serenity. This is created though the calming clouds that merge in with the morning fog close to the center of the bridge. To create this image, the photographer most likely went on location to the Golden Gate bridge during "magic hour" because the lighting from the horizon, as well as throughout the entire image, looks natural. The lighting is the most dominant feature of this shot. This was most likely achieved this by shooting the image at three different exposures (over, normal, and under) and then combined together in an editing program; therefore, it is an HDR image. To shoot this, the photographer used a wide angle lens and most likely a tripod to take three different images (for the exposure) without having to deal with any ghosting.  It is also possible that the photographer used a glow effect to enhance the image even further. The photographer also framed the image in a way that it would follow the rule of thirds because the very first thing the eye goes to is the bridge.

This photo covers the theme of a goal. A goal can be anything someone is desperately trying to achieve. In this shot, the goal seems to be to win a race. To create this shot, the photographer most likely used something close to a normal lens. Although it might seem that the background is not in focus, the photographer possibly used deep focus. The illusion of the background being out of focus was created by using and low shutter speed (but not too low) shutter speed while moving with the cyclists. That way, anything that is still appears to be out of focus or stretched. This effect helps the viewer focus more on the people riding the bike (especially the expressions) rather than the distractions around them. The facial expressions help immensely to show that this is a competition. The viewer can see the ambition on the face of one of the subjects. Also, the bicycles in this image act as a motion vector, indicating that the action is moving forward, further indicating that they need to reach a certain goal. The lighting in this shot seems natural, but the shot seems a bit overexposed which could have been done for artistic purposes because it doesn't take away from anything in the shot; instead, it highlights the riders.

This image explores the theme of a backstory. Backstory is a history of a photo or film that creates a better understanding of the narrative. This is image, the backstory reveals that the murderer of the girl's mother was really the man she is going to for security. To make this image effective, the photographer used selective color; the photographer made all of the image black and white and left the blood red. This makes the viewer focus more on the blood first rather than the people around it. Although the blood is terribly fake (since it was done in editing), it still has the same effect as it would if it was real. The photographer used the rule of thirds and focused out attention on the knife, the blood on the man's shirt, and the little girl's expression.

This photo dives into the theme of a character. A character could be someone or something. Anything with human-like traits could be character. In this shot, the dog is clearly a character. The dogs tells a story through the emotion we can see in its eyes. The American flag could indicate possibly the death of its owner in the military. In this shot, the photographer lines up the dog's eyes to follow the rule of thirds to make the viewer focus on the eyes first. The second most obvious thing is the American flag, which could indicate that those two things have something in common. Some color in the shot has also been taken away to further symbolize the loss of life. If natural light was not used in this shot, then it is most likely that a softbox was used because there is hardly any falloff.

This image uses the theme of an obstacle. An obstacle could be anyone or anything standing in the way of the character. From this shot we can tell that a disability is the challenge standing in the way of a person who needs to use that chair to go down the stairs. The photographer uses selective focus to put the viewer's attention on the the chair and only part of the stars indicating that getting all the way down the stairs is an impossible task. The lighting from this shot comes from the window located at the top left of the shot, the door at the bottom, and most likely a flash facing the chair. The photographer also used the rule of thirds by placing the chair in a place where it hits the lines of the grid and is most appealing to the eye.

This image illustrates the theme of a relationship. A relationship is a bond between anyone or anything. Although this image looks like a basic snapshot, it tells a story of a relationship. What looks like to be a homeless man is using his own blanket to keep his sleeping dog warm in his lap. This is a great example of how great content can overshadow an average looking image. There is nothing special about this image; the photographer didn't focus on the rule of thirds, there is no selective focus, there is no artificial light, even the colors have not been altered with. Just the simple deep focus of the image showing the man and his dog so close together makes it such a great image that the other factors are just not considered.

This image is an example of the theme of setting. A setting can be any location or environment. In this case, the setting is of a beach. This indicates that, in a film, anything that comes after it must have something to do with the beach. In this shot, the photographer used a tilt-shift lens to create a fake miniature effect that causes the everyone in focus to look like a miniature. The image is turned black and white probably because it looked blandly overexposed in color. The photographer also paid attention to the pattern of the umbrellas and tried to line them up in a creative and appealing way. The rule of thirds does not really apply to this image because almost everything that is in focus is located directly in the center of the photo.

The unknown can be anything unexpected or a twist in the story. In this image, the great yellow light is the unknown. From the evidence give, it can be predicted that that light is the entrance to the after life. This can be concluded because we can see an elderly male walking alone towards the light. The green leaves and no dead plants in the shot also indicates the beginning of new life. but again, it is not fully clear. This shot uses a normal lens and includes a foreground object (bushes) that are out of focus and everything after it is all clear. The only thing that follows the rule of thirds is the light, which is placed on the upper quadrant of the photo. The only artificial light that can be seen is the light the man is following, if it is not really the sun itself.

Time is a theme that represents time of day or time period within history. This image illustrates how time ends for everyone. Death is the sad part of life that cannot be escaped. Everyone's time will come and we have to learn to live with it and accept it. This image is a great representation of that. In this shot, the photographer uses selective focus to get rid of all distracting objects. The lens looks like a macro lens. The photographer doesn't exactly use the rule of thirds in this picture because the image works the way it is. The photo is taken from a higher angle to show that the butterfly is weak and is dead or dying. The lighting in the image looks to be mostly natural, but there could have been a soft light coming form the left side of the photo.