Blog Post #39: Proportioning in Film

To proportion my film in a way that makes audiences feel every aspect of my film. Most films use a three act structure which consists of 25% setup, 50% conflict, and 25% resolution. Since my film is going to be 5 minutes, I need to figure out how to divide it into three parts like that. To plan out my film, I am going to be using a plot structure chart. 

Here is what the chart looks like:

Exposition: An exposition is basically the introduction of the characters and setting in the plot. For my exposition, I will be displaying my main character in their surroundings as they enter the school climate. The settings will be obvious to my target audience, which is mostly teenagers in high school or graduates. The exposition will start to show some of the main character's behaviors, but nothing serious will reveal itself until the rising action.

Rising Action: The rising action is what leads to the climax or the peak of the plot development in a movie. I plan to have the rising action be the main character's parents fighting and not understanding each other while the main character deals with the social struggles of being a teenager. What I mean by social struggles is the fact that social media has such a large presence, and cyber bullying as well. 

Climax: The climax is when the plot is revealed entirely. For the climax of my film, I will be showing my main character actually understanding themselves as a person which is when they start to change their clothing and how they project themselves towards people. 

Falling Action: The falling action is usually what deescalates the plot from the climax, which can bring audiences to a conclusion. The falling action in my film will be the main character actually calming down. They won't be freaking out over social media anymore, and they might even delete some apps that bring them down mentally. 

Denouement: The denouement is basically just the conclusion of a movie. For the ending, I want to include a scene where the main character does a pic collage of all the things that bother them. Then, they will hang up the pic collage with a hammer and a nail. The short film will then end with just the pic collage as the center piece while the video fades out.

Basically, I did this chart to understand how to fulfill the needs for a better and put together short film. This helped me develop the rest of my storyboard and it has given me a good idea of how to properly distribute the film into thirds while keeping the plot secure.