Skip to main content

Investigation 4/19: Feature Length Or Series; Which Better Fits Your Story?

Feature length films and television series are both different outlets that a filmmaker is able to use to express their stories. The lengths of both formats have their own strengths and weaknesses for a filmmaker to be aware of. I have done some investigating in order to compare both formats in order to determine which to consider writing for.

Series

Writing a story as a television or streaming series allows for longer and more detailed stories to be told. An episode of a series will usually be anywhere from thirty to sixty minutes long. While at first this limited amount of time may seem like a hindrance, splitting your story into multiple episodes allows for more time overall to go into detail and tell your story. An example that I have observed of shorter episodes benefiting storytelling can be seen in the differences between the fourth season of the anime series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and its film adaptation Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable Chapter I. The original series tells it's complete story of Josuke and his companions as they track down a mysterious serial killer in their small town over the course of thirty-nine episodes. Each episode tells exactly what the author Hirohiko Araki wanted to portray. The film adaptation however, falls short in many ways from portraying his vision. With the film being forced into being feature length, it only has so much time to tell the story that is trying to be told. With a run-time of one-hundred and nineteen minutes, this first chapter only manages to tell the story up until the fifth episode of the anime while also leaving out certain details and plot points which were present in those original five episodes. This is an example of how a series' ability to have multiple episodes can benefit the story in the long-run. (Link To Image)

Feature Length

Writing a story as a feature length film allows for simpler and shorter stories to be told in a more formal and grandiose format. Feature length typically describes films that are anywhere between eighty and one-hundred and eighty minutes long. Typically films are on the shorter end of that spectrum, however, there are definitely exceptions to this such as Avengers: Endgame with it's three hour and two minute (one-hundred and eighty-two minute) run-time. Having your story take place within one set run-time allows you to present your audience with your complete vision all in one sitting. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and its television retelling Bates Motel are examples of how a shorter length can efficiently tell a complete story. Over Psycho's one hour and forty-nine minute run-time, the audience is exposed to Norman Bates, his story, and the events that take place at the Bates Motel. The series Bates Motel on the other-hand expands upon these concepts over the course of five seasons. This isn't inherently a bad thing considering that Bates Motel is a magnificently excellent series from beginning to end, but some viewers might prefer experiencing this story in the short time it takes to watch the original movie. This is an example of how a film can efficiently tell a story in a shorter and simpler amount of time. (Link To Image)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Investigation 3/1: The Tools Of Camera Stability

One of the most important aspects of cinematography that goes commonly unnoticed is having the camera steady. Even a slight amount of movement within a shot can pull the audience away from the film, so it is important to attempt to have shots. There are multiple different ways that you can use to stabilize your camera, some of which are more effective than others. Tripod Using a tripod is the easiest way to stabilize the camera while filming. By having three points of contact with the ground, a tripod keeps the camera extremely stable. The camera would likely only move due to very large movements on the ground or strong winds. The one downside to using a tripod is that it has to remain stationary. If the required shot involves moving around, a tripod can likely not be used. Overall, the tripod is the easiest, simplest, and cheapest way to keep your camera steady. (Image Source) Shoulder Rig A shoulder mount is one way to keep the camera stable while also being able to mov...
Post a Comment
Read more

End of MP 1 Blog Post

After now reaching the end of the first marking period of the 2019-2020 school year, I am able to reflect back upon the work that I have completed so far. Intention Definition & Exploration Of Ideas Having no prior experience in any particular area of film, I set out to choose a topic to focus on that would allow me to help narrow down my focus. The area I chose to focus on was documentary and mockumentary styled film making. I made this choice with the intention to be able to explore both formal and less formal ideas while also not relying on having to create an entire original idea by myself. The topic of my film (The Game) was chosen because of my familiarity and pre-existing personal opinions about it. Planning Planning an entire production entirely by myself was a change of pace in comparison to how I worked in previous years. I began the planning process by typing out all of my thoughts in order to help establish what I am trying to do. Once I developed an idea for th...
Post a Comment
Read more

O Brother, Where Art Though?/Homer's Odyssey

Throughout O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Coen brothers included various elements in the film that drew inspiration from Homer's The Odyssey . The following are a few of these elements and characters from O Brother, Where Art Thou?  that are meant to reference Homer's The Odyssey . The Sirens In The Odyssey , Sirens are seductive creatures who try to tempt the main character of Odysseus into coming with them. To counteract this, Odysseus fills his ears with beeswax and is bound to the mast of his ship as instructed to him by Circe. In O Brother, Where Art Thou? , the Sirens act like they do in Homer's poem. They're used in the plot as a way to tempt our main characters. However unlike Odysseus in The Odyssey , Elmer, Delmar, and Pete do nothing to protect themselves from the Siren's temptations and allow themselves to be thrown off their path. Big Dan Teague In The Odyssey , The creature of the Cyclops is known as Polyphemus, son of Poseidon. In...
Post a Comment
Read more