A short film production company

Pixar animation studios was founded in 1979 as part of Lucasfilm. The division was then bought from Lucas by Steve jobs and they went on as a company designed to sell PIXAR computers.

This did not work, and no matter how much money Jobs would throw at the company (which led to his eventual ownership through an investment of over $50 million.

However, the animation section of the company was getting success in advertising thanks to John Lasseter (who most would recognize as the creative director of pixar, or as the guy in the hawian shirt).
Lasseter himself had come from Disney, but was fired after promoting computer animation and then joined Lucasfilm.

Since then pixar has been at the forfront of clever short film animations, with their earliest revolving around a simple lamp jumping on a rubber ball (this is now seen in their title). After this they made a series of shorts in order to advertise their skills to production companies. This is common as very often large companies will use short films as a form of promotion, but Pixar have more recently chosen to add a short at the start or end of each of their movies. One recent example was the film "night and day" about two figures who argue over whether day is better than night, giving examples of las Vegas against a party at the beach.

Advertisment for smile a while

Smile a while is a product that the public takes in order to keep their smiles up.

The advertisment will be similar to those for toothpaste we see currently on tv:

The smiles that you see in these adverts often appear fake, and I woud like this element to remain intact through my advert. The advert will feature a voiceover from an actress I have already hired, and will feature (like in the picture above) the lower half of a womans face smiling earily.

Inspiration for this comes from both these toothpast comercials, and also to the advertisments found throughout the popular videogame: Bioshock.

Initial film ideas: Don't forget to smile

Don't forget to smile.

The film is set in a world where everyone is forced to smile. Not just a simple slight curl of the lip, but a full blown, terrifying Grin. Those caught without a smile must live in fear of the Face Changers.

The people who are forced to live under this idea take medication known as: Smile-a-while, a reference to Soma from a brave new world.

We follow a young teenager who can't bring himself to take the medication as it makes him physically sick and is forced to hold up a smile the whole time. This is possible until the tragic news of his grandfather’s death gets to him.

 

At this the smile drops. People start to notice, and he starts having nightmares about the dreaded face changers. He starts to panic and just as he thinks the worst is going to occur a girl, a previous friend of his, turns to him and offers the help him out at this time by talking to him in private and taking on his troubles.

 
Unfortunately she then becomes depressed thinking about it, and the next time that we see her she has been “changed”.

Our protagonist cannot take this and chooses to end his life in a way that would represent it all.

 

History of Short Film

Short films would have originally been a 5-10 minute cartoon before a film, or perhaps a short news-documentary. Such artists as Charlie Chaplin were known for his work in short film, and other silent comedians such as Laurel and Hardy would create shorts to entertain the audience.

In the 1930’s there was a rise in double features which were two short films put together.

Short films took an interesting turn when televisions became household in came the rein of advertisements on TV and these in their own right could be considered short films.

Short films predate feature length productions by over a decade, and they have been used for films as diverse as newsreels, cartoons, advertising, technical films, music promos, corporate video, cine-magazines, sponsored filmmaking, student films, gallery installations and amateur cinematography.

In the modern era, short films are often a way for film students to show off in a visual portfollio which would be entered into films

In the modern era, short films are often a way for film students to show off in a visual portfolio which would be entered into film festivals to win awards.

Currently leading companies have reverted back to a stage where they are creating short cartoons before a film, with Disney leading this with Pixar shorts and their own animated creations such as "the paperman".
Some would even state that the recent Vine uprising would be classed as a collection of short films.

production log week of 08/09/14

Production log

I have come up with the base idea for my film so far and am currently working on the pre-production stages. This means finding cast and crew for the production. getting a shot list together. looking through possible locations and working out what would be best (this should occur after initial story-boarding and before shot list as the list is dependent upon this)

To do this week:
- initial storyboard
- location ideas for scouting at the weekend
-
If possible
- costumes and make-up design
- Actor release forms/cast list
- work out a date to shoot!