Recreation of My Beast Friend

 Character, Location, Plot synopsis, Script/Storyboard

We were given the task of recreating a short film, the one we chose to do was My Beast Friend, originally directed by Ewan Torrance. We chose it because it is very funny and original. Here is a link to the original..  http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p007xb6t. We also recieved some comments from the writer himself!

We have emailed him to ask a few questions ... here is what we sent:

Hello,

We are currently doing A-level Media Studies and for our practical work we have to create a short film that lasts 5 minutes. We were wondering if you had any advice on how to go about creating and/or writing a short film that is fairly simple to produce as we have a very low budget. We also have a passion for filmmaking and want to work in the industry when we leave sixth form so we want to make sure that our short film is the best that it can be.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Evie Calaby & Lily Vosper

Fergus replied to our message with this:

Hi Evie and Lily,

That sounds great.

I haven't done that many short films, though I have done quite a bit of TV writing over the last few years. I think some of the same rules apply, like...

The key to good films and low budgets is planning.

Only film what you'll need, and remember that people like stories about people. Spend time making your characters interesting. Make us care about them, even if we don't like them.

Don't set out to write a five minute film. Start writing a half hour and edit edit edit the script until you've got down to five minutes. Like I said, I went from four minutes down to one and ditched a lot of stuff. But what was left worked really well.

Remember that you have much more than just words to use. We used looks, reactions, movement and even the hand-written note to get the information across. Make every shot work as hard as it can.

If you get the opportunity, there is one pretty good book you could look at. 'Rebel Without A Crew', by Robert Rodriguez (who made 'Sin City' and 'Spy Kids'), where he describes making his first feature. It's pretty good nuts and bolts stuff.

Anyway, that's all I can think of right now. Let me know if I can help with anything else, and keep me posted.

All the best,

Fergus Mitchell

Plot Synopsis In a nutshell, My Beast Friend is about a young man (Ed) who is trying to get rid of his foul-mouthed cat Fluff, who Ed sees as being a man dressed up in a cat costume. He decides to trick Fluff into thinking he is going to go to a place called Pleasureland and that it's just for cats. However, Amelia turns up early and sees Fluff as a real cat and doesn't realise it was Ed who was trying to get rid of him in the first place.

Our recreation included myself, Ryan Shone and George Stevens as actors, Evie Calaby as director and camera woman with Lizzie Starling, photographer was Henry Palmer.

We hope you enjoy our production of this brilliant film.

Characters:
Ed 

Ed is the second main character (next to Fluff) He is Fluff's owner and tries to get rid of his irritating cat. Ed has evidently developed a relationship with a girl called Amelia, though she is described by Fluff as being way out of his league. He lies to Fluff saying he will go to a 'great fun place just for cats' however, he is planning to dump him in this cardboard box somewhere, which is much to Amelia's horror, although she does not know that it was Ed who planned to dump him.

Fluff
Fluff is a grumpy cat who is owned by Ed, he is seen by Ed as a man in a cat costume but by Amelia as a cute cat who has been abandoned by a 'monster' he makes harsh remarks at Ed's expense and threatens to 'sick up all of yesterdays tuna' when he wants to know what is happening and what the tag around his neck says. 

Amelia
Amelia is Ed's girlfriend who turns up really early, which is how she meets Fluff. She could be described as being a bit dippy and not all there as when she sees Fluff for the first time she is completely unaware that Ed (her boyfriend) was the 'monster' who 'abandoned this sweet little creature.' it is Amelia that forces Ed and Fluff back together as she is Fluff's 'New mummy now'

Location, Location, Location
In terms of where to film, we used Evie Calaby's (directors) hallway as most of us don't have a hall and this was a good space and had the appropriate equipment and mean we could use two cameras in effective places. I drew out a floor plan which shows the layout of the hall and where we could place the cameras.

The script

 

FLUFF
ple-plea-please.
Ed tell me what's going on right now or I'm going to sick up all of yesterdays tuna.
(makes sick noises)
Oh no it's that girl isn't it amoeba. You're mad, she's way out of your league.

ED
This is nothing to do with Amelia! I just,.I just wanted to sort my life out you know, get ridof some of the dead wood. So, I thought I'd take you to this great fun place, just for cats, yeah just until I finish tidying up.
It's called.. pleasureland.

FLUFF
Pleasureland? Sweet, but not before time.
(Door bell rings)

AMELIA
I'm so sorry Ed, I know I'm super early! Oh my god! who's this?

ED
 Er that's... fluff

AMELIA
Free to good home. Some monster actually abandoned this sweet, little creature. Well fluff I guess that makes me your new mummy now.

FLUFF
You lying cun-

The Story Board

I drafted up a quick storyboard a while before filming so it was far easier to plan shots. I am not the best at drawing, however this did make the day of filming far easier. 

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