New Ideas

I've been considering some ideas and discussing them with a friend, and have come up with a rough outline of a story.
The setting will be post-apocalyptic/post-disaster. The story will follow two seperate groups, each consisting of two closely related friends/relatives. The two groups will follow seperate paths until they meet. One group could be two brothers, and the other could be two sisters. I have ideas for what will happen when they do meet which will allow for a lot of emotion (due to to the characters from each group being very close to one another).
I am considering the cause of the disaster, and it may be due to a nuclear bomb. This will be hard to set the scene for however so it may be for another reason, perhaps on a smaller scale.
That's the very brief outline of what i'm considering so far.

Alice

I thought in order to write the story in detail I would need to have some idea of my main character, so here is my first character design:

As you can see it does resemble Alice from Resident Evil. A lot. I have even used the same name but that can be changed.
The point is that I think it would make for a cool character and suit my action story ideas. I have yet to develop the story further...i'm out of ideas at the moment...

Please let me know if you have any suggestions...any at all!

Initial Ideas

I've decided to make an action movie of some description, as it's something I haven't tried before.

Firstly, my inspiration for the theme of the film comes from this image of Alice from Resident Evil:

I know I said that you shouldn't become preoccupied with props, namely guns, but those dual nite tacs are beastly. I want my lead character to have Alice's persona. The short film will not be a zombie film but this is definitely inspiration.

Another thing which has taken my interest is the style of Zack Snyder, namely the way he shoots his fight scenes. I recently saw Watchmen and I would like my film to have a similar 'atmosphere' to it, of course without building an entire city and using CGI. I am limited with my resources but the filming techniques can still be learned from.

My Summer 2011 Short Film Project - First Stages

This summer I will have a lot of time on my hands and I see it as the perfect opportunity for me to make a short film. I have a made a couple before with the help of two or three friends, and I have learnt much from these past projects.

The main thing I have learnt is to plan out my story and storyboard in much more detail than I have done before...making it up as you go along can not only be a waste of time and resources but you will not get the result you were looking for initially. Try not to do much on impulse!

I have found a couple of actors interested in my future productions who I will contact when, and only when, my story has been finalized. This will save any confusion for both myself and the actors. Try to keep everything concise and as clear as possible when trying to get people interested in your project.

As of now I am in the writing stage, and will be for some time until I am sure it will work, considering the budget of the film (which is low enough to be considered a zero-budget production) and the actors/props/locations available and accessible. Remember it is not a good idea to write a story based too much around a prop or location. For example, there are so many student/amateur films portraying children running around their street in t-shirts and shorts shooting each other with toy guns, who are far too preoccupied to think up a decent storyline and try in any way to make the film engaging. For a successful short film, the storyline is key. Don't just be a 'kid with a toy gun and a camera'. 'Nuff said.

To begin planning I have taken some ideas from different films i've seen to give me inspiration. However it is not a good idea to copy an idea straight from a movie. Only use these ideas as inspiration to develop your own, as films are much more interesting when they're unique.

I will update this blog when i've made progress on the planning!

Pete.