Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Throughout our work on our short film, we have been influenced and inspired by many of the methods and techniques used in existing short films. Initially, we had to analyse a selection of short films of our own choice, in order to learn about everything involved with this type of filmmaking. Without our initial analysis, we would have had no knowledge of the structure, genres or editing styles that differentiate short films from feature length films. The short films we had top research had to fall around a five minute length, as this would be our target length for our short film. Short films of this length can vary in complexity, and can use or leave out different narrative theories. Short films vary from feature length films most obviously in length, but also have a lot more directive freedom than feature length movies. Short film directors can challenge genre conventions and narrative theories without receiving much criticism, unlike feature length film directors. Short films also do not have as much focus on being profitable, so this means directors can take more artistic approaches to their films as they do not have the same pressure as feature length directors have to make money. Short films are often used by aspiring directors as a showcase of their directorial abilities. For my research I looked at 5 short films to get a good idea of their conventions and styles, as well as having a variety to create a broader understanding of this type of film in my mind.

Short Film research

The first short film that I drew inspiration from was "alone" by Brock Torunski. This short film is set in a dystopian future, where the (unnamed) protagonist lives in a world completely absent of other people. The plot for this short film shows the viewer a day in the life of the protagonist, as well as furthering the viewers understanding with flashbacks and non diegetic monologue. At the end of the film, there is an unexpected twist that catches both the audience and the protagonist off-guard. The twist being that the protagonist is not actually alone as he once thought. 

As this short film is a 'day in the life' scenario, there is not much implication for different narrative theories, being that films in this genre act more like documentaries, due to the fact that they focus on the character or setting more than the complexity of the narrative. However, the film loosely follows Todorov's narrative theory; in that there is an establishment of equilibrium for the protagonist, then at the last moment, there is a major disruption that occurs. The narrative is not as much the focus of the short film, as it spends the majority of its duration on documenting the protagonist’s daily activities. Although, the twist ending shifts the focus onto the narrative, as the disruption is clear to both the audience and the protagonist, and the reaction of the protagonist and the audience occurring simultaneously invests the audience in what could come further in the story. This is an effective way of experimenting with narrative, as the protagonist's thoughts are being shared with the audience throughout, making the audience emphasise with the character, only to catch the audience off-guard with the surprise of the twist. During the final shot, the protagonist is seen through a side shot, and when the light flickers on we see him look at the light. The camera then moves so that the protagonist is out of frame. This technique of bringing the protagonist out of frame feel like the viewer is being pulled into the frame, as it switches from a side shot to what can be interpreted as a POV in one swift movement.

The film has a very good use of non-diegetic soundtracks. The choice of soundtracks flows parallel with the pace and genre of the short film, the genre being dystopia. The music chosen is full of simple, single notes and melodies, from guitar and piano. They are long and drawn out, much like the daily lifestyle of the protagonist, often repeating the same sequence. The music is also soft, parallel to the tone of voice of the protagonist, emphasising isolation. The narration is also an effective element of this short film as well. The protagonist talks in the same tone throughout, hardly emphasising any of his words. This works parallel to the plot of the film, being that he is completely alone he no longer has any need to vary his speech for impact. The monotonous narration sounds like the voice within the protagonist’s head, as we do not usually emphasise thoughts in such a way as we do when speaking. This shows his lack of human interaction, and builds up the sense of isolation. Narration is a common convention of short films, as it is a unique method of storytelling that cannot be used the same way in feature length films.

Various editing techniques are used for effect and meaning in this short film. Much like most films, there are lots of cuts used between shots. The opening shot fades in from black. This could be used to show that this scene is dream, being that it fades into motion, much like dreams fade in and out during sleep. A fade from or to black is a very common convention used in short films. As their length is shorter than feature length films, there is less of a focus on complex narrative, and a fade in/out is often the perfect way to introduce or end the narrative, allowing for the content of the film to explain everything the audience needs to know to become invested in the short film. Another editing technique used in this particular short film is the lightening of edges to show that a sequence is a flashback. In feature length films, flashbacks are usually followed or introduced by some sort of explanation, which means that the there isn’t as much a need for editing techniques to alert the audience of what type of scene this is. In this film, the flashback is only a few shots long, so there is a greater need to imply that it is a flashback to the audience. This is done by whitening the edges to give it an unnatural appearance, as well as making it feel like a memory of the protagonist.

This film also has a good use of mise en scene. It uses a variety of props and settings to emphasize the isolation of the protagonist. There are lots of examples of empty bottles, broken furniture and dying plants that give a sense of this world being abandoned by humans. 

Second Film

The second film that I drew inspiration from was ‘Donkey’ by Keir Burrows. The plot of this short film follows a man’s experience when he meets his old friend Stanley from his primary school, who he also picked on during secondary school. There is a twist at the end, and the protagonist’s perspective changes after this event, giving explanation to events told earlier. The film uses narration over relevant scenes and imagery, and all dialogue is told by the protagonist in a recollective manor.

The short films narrative uses elements of both Todorov's and Levi Strauss. The narrative starts off with the equilibrium of the characters life, which he explains during the first few minutes of narration. Here, he tells the audience about his lifestyle, where he grew up, and some back story about his childhood and his friend Stanley. This acts like an establishing narrative, as it gives the relevant information needed to understand the recent event the protagonist is leading up to tell. Though it is a loose following of Todorov's theory, disruption can be interpreted as the point where the protagonist is reunited with his old friend, as this shows the change of the protagonists view on both Stanley and the world. The narrative also uses lots of binary codes, such as the opposition of rich and poor between the protagonist and his old friend, and the opposition of false and real happiness. These oppositions work well with the reflective feel of this short film, and as a social realism genre, the oppositions are helpful in appropriately building upon this genre.

The film uses visual codes very well, applying it to its genre, and creating a set tone throughout. The use of black and white for all the imagery goes well with the binary oppositions within the narrative. It gives the implies and solidifies the contrastive tones of the film. There are also lots of visual codes that imply tones and themes. An example would be all of the still shots of the school. The narration explains that this was the area where the protagonist grew up, and the use of still shots of different settings adds a sense of nostalgia for the protagonist. These shots build on the nostalgia, because they are shots of specific parts of the school, much like how the protagonist would remember specific details about going there all those years ago. These visual codes help build the story and add knowledge about the protagonists past, and how he became what he is today.

There are also lots of detailed and meaningful shots that add tones and messages to the film. The best example of this is when the protagonist is talking about how he made new friends by making fun of Stanley. He talks about it in a regretful tone, and this is matched perfectly by the imagery used. There are several shots used where the protagonist is looking into the mirror, thus reflecting on his action. His facial expression looks blank, but there seems to be some regret in the way he looks into the mirror, which runs parallel to the regretful tone of his narration. This is an over the shoulder shot, so it metaphorically gives us his view.

Our Short Film

We have used lots of short film conventions in our own short film, as we knew from research that these conventions were involved in the creation of successful short films. We wanted to create a successful short film, so used some of these conventions to plan out our short film.

Firstly was the narrative. Our short film used elements of narrative theories used in other short films. All of the scenes within our protagonist’s dream loosely follow the narrative style of Todorov’s theory. The equilibrium for this scene would be the first few shots of the protagonist walking through Brighton’s high street. This also acts as an establishing shot, which is used in many short films and feature length films alike, establishing both the protagonist and the location of the scene due to the recognisability of the street and its features. The point of disruption would be the little girl asking for an autograph, and there is another point of disruption where the protagonist is kidnapped. Both of these points in the narrative represent the equilibrium of the protagonist being disrupted; with the first point being simply brushed off by the protagonist, whereas the kidnapping has much more serious consequences, and truly represents an abolishment of the equilibrium the protagonist has been living.

The following conversation in the dark room includes the recognition by the protagonist that the disruption has occurred, and then an attempt by the protagonist to repair the damage of the disruption. Ultimately, the protagonist fails, and is killed by the antagonist. We followed Todorov’s theory because it gave the dream sequence a realistic feel, as it would have seemed very real to the protagonist during the time. This would have allowed the audience to sympathise with her. 

In our short film we also used the narrative theory of Levi Strauss. This theory is about binary oppositions, and through our social realism genre, we had quite a lot of these which we communicated to the viewer using various techniques. Most obviously was the opposition of rich and poor, where the protagonist begins the narrative as a rich and famous person and then returns to reality where she is homeless. We communicated this mostly through mise en scene, by using a fur coat and shopping bags as costume and prop to establish the characters wealth early on. We did the same for the homeless scene, by using a blanket and dark coat as props and costume to associate the character with common attire of homeless people. Another binary opposition, and perhaps the most basic was good and evil, where we establishes the protagonist and antagonist. This was revealed in the dark room scene, where Alex's character reveals her evil intentions and kills the protagonist. We used binary oppositions because they are an effective narrative structure, and they are built through visual contrast between characters and settings. We therefore varied our locations and mise en scene accordingly.

We also used mise en scene throughout our film. We had some more obvious uses, and some more subtle uses to create a variety, and therefore keep the audience's interest. I think our best use of mise en scene was during the dark room scene. This is because we had used the red lights of the room to create an eerie and tense atmosphere, that would be appropriate with the theme of kidnapping. The red also worked with the binary opposition of good vs evil, as it is a colour typically associated with evil, and therefore subliminally tells the audience of the danger of the situation. We used the 180 degree rule for the exchange of dialogue between the protagonist and antagonist, and made sure to compose the protagonist in the lower half of the frame, being looked down upon. This gave a visual impression of powerlessness. We did the opposite for the antagonist, showing her mostly in the top half of the frame with the camera looking up. This created a sense of power and control, which was a binary opposition to the protagonist's situation. This let the audience know of the danger that the protagonist was in.

We tried to vary what we used in terms of transitions and effects. I used the flashback technique that I found when researching the short film 'Alone'. I created a light effect for the scenes when we had flashbacks. I also added some blur to it, to make it seem more like a revelation, being that the flashback reveals that the antagonist was there the whole time. I think this worked, as it created a visual representation for the flashback, and made it more apparent to the viewer.

We also varied the transitions we used in between certain shots, making sure that the variety matched the tones of the film. As well as using cuts consistently throughout our film, we also used several fades from black. We used this for when the protagonist regains consciousness after being kidnapped, and for when she wakes up at the end of the film. We used a fade into frame as we thought this was a good visual cue for waking up. The fade slowly reveals information, much like how the protagonist would take time to adjust when whilst becoming conscious. This was a way to further get the audience to empathize with the character. It works with the effect of a POV without actually being a POV shot, due to the fact that it is a similar visual sensation as to what the protagonist is seeing at the time.

Film poster

For my research on posters, I looked at two short film posters and two feature length film posters. I researched both short and feature length films to find out the differences and similarities between the two, and what conventions are needed for each, and whether or not they would be relevant to our short film. There were both major and minor differences and similarities between the posters for each type of film.

Short film posters

For my short film posters I researched both ‘Lovefield’ by Mathieu Ratthe and ‘Donkey’ by Kier Burrows. Both used similar conventions of a short film poster, whilst each giving their own unique style of representing and promoting their film. I found out how different things can be shown through a short films poster, including narrative, tone, and genre. I also learned how much directors actually show in the poster, and what is left out for effect.

The poster for Lovefield has a very good use of semantic codes for effect. The film is known for its twist narrative, where the director lures the audience into a sense of false insecurity by using genre codes for effect. The poster shows this in its use of horror, with lots of semantic horror codes such as a crow on the title as an omen for bad things to come, a field to show isolation and hopelessness, and dark skies for pathetic fallacy. However, some hints at the films twist into a light hearted narrative are shown in the title. Most notable is the sunshine creeping through a gap in the clouds, which hints at hope, and adds a sense of light and purity to the otherwise foreboding poster. There is an effective use of blocking, where the character in the poster has his hands blocked by the field. By limiting the audience's field of view, it gives the sense that he is either hiding something, or that it is something to sinister to show in the poster; both of these assumptions create enigma and build upon the horror expectation.

The poster uses lots of conventions of short films. There are two relevant short film awards composed very small in the top left of the poster. These are very common on short film posters, as they act in the same way as reviews do on feature length film posters. They are used in promotion of the short film, to show how many wards it has won. The billing block is small and includes the key people involved in the making and producing of the short film. As well as this, there is a link to their website, which is commonly used on short and feature length film posters in order to give people who see the poster access to more information. What is strange, however, is that at the top of the poster are the names of two of the actors in the short film. This is uncommon for short films, as due to their small budget, big name actors are not cast in these films, therefore there is not usually a need for them to be promoted on the poster.  The director may have done this to give the actors more recognition.

The poster for Donkey is much more simplistic than the poster for Lovefield. While both are for short films, it is obvious that the image for Lovefield was captured separately from the film footage, whereas the image from the Donkey poster is a still frame from a shot in the short film. The image is a black and white still of the protagonist’s reflection in a mirror. This uses genre codes, as the imagery of the mirror show reflection to be one of the themes of this short film, creating a genre code for social realism. As well as this, the black and white image could be a metaphor for binary oppositions, which the narrative is full of. The image looks grainy, also adding to the sincerity of the tone of this film, showing that it is tackling a real issue.

This poster is much more basic, and represents the conventions of a typical short film. There is a title, accompanied by the name of the director near the bottom of the poster. Lining the bottom are 5 different awards from film festivals that this short film has won, as well as one larger award composed at the top of the poster. This is used in advantage of the minimalist design, in order to show as many of the films awards as possible, as to show the viewer the success of this short film. In the top right corner is a company logo, made very small and only just being readable. The minimalistic approach to this poster gives the audience just enough information to build intrigue.

Feature length film posters

Feature length film posters are very similar to short film posters in some ways, and different in other ways. A big difference would be what they each emphasise. Short film posters will usually only show semantic codes and imagery to give details on the narrative, tone and genre of the short film. Feature length film posters, which have exponentially higher budgets, are used far more for advertisement and promotion.

The first feature length film poster that I researched was the poster for 'I, Daniel Blake' by Ken Loach. Though this was a feature length film, and therefore the budget was higher than that of any short film, it was still a lower budget independent movie, meaning advertisement was very important for this film, as it would not have created attention as easily as larger budget hollywood films would.

• First thing to notice is the grayscale background. The use of this creates a mood for the film, suggesting that the film will have serious tones or fall into the genre of social realism.

• The character’s posture within the frame, in particular the raised fist, shows a range of themes; success, accomplishment, moving forwards, and so on. This shows that the film is centred on the character's success or personal achievement, and hints that the film will follow the full journey of his success.

• Particular words and phrases are presented in contrasting red text, making them very bold on screen. This helps emphasize the praise that this film has been given, and the audience's eye is drawn to all these very positive reviews. This is an effective promotional strategy, as it creates a big expectation from the people viewing the poster, and they are more likely to see it if they have higher expectations.

• The reviews are blocked together into one huge block of text that spans the wall, making it stand out as a poster. The sheer number of reviews speaks very loudly about the status of the director, implying that the director has a very high status and is very respected within the industry. The reviews stand out as the most used convention  on the poster. These would not usually appear on a short films poster, as companies and businesses would not usually take time to give reviews or ratings on short films.

• The title is composed quite large in at the bottom, in black graffiti text. The choice of using graffiti text adds a number of tones the poster. It adds an urban feel, suggesting that the film may centre around the streets, or maybe lower working class. The graffiti also adds a sense of rebellion, as the way the character is composed in the poster could suggest that it was him who wrote it.

The second feature length film poster that I researched was the poster for the independent film 'Bronson' by Nicolas Winding Refn. This is also an independent film, with a similarly low budget to 'I, Daniel Blake' . The poster shows the films unique and stylistic approach, and sets the tone of the film as violent and dark.

• The main focus in the poster is the main character Bronson. His composition is central showing that he is the protagonist for the film, and the lack of anything else or any other people in the poster add a sense of solitarily, which corresponds with the fact that he is a prisoner. His stance looks somewhat victorious, as though he has just won something.

• The lights add a professional feel, and make him look like a champion; they also highlight the fact that he is the protagonist. They also give the only colour in the poster, using mostly gold and yellow tones which add a sense of fame and notoriety about this character.

• His head is tilted upwards so that he is looking slightly down at the camera. This could suggest that he is very self-centred or that he has a large ego, and the fact that he looks down whilst still composed at eye level suggests that while he thinks great of himself, others do not.

• Further down in the poster, his hands are wrapped much like a boxer would wrap their hands, only there are blood stains on them. This metaphor of blood being on his hands shows that this character is very violent and dangerous, setting him apart from regular boxers he is imitating due to his increased violence.

• The title font is all in capitals, making it bold and stand out. It goes with the rest of the poster’s colour palette of yellow/gold tones, adding to the feeling of fame and notoriety.

• Underneath is more text in the same style, reading 'The Man The Myth The Celebrity'. This adds to the fact that the protagonist has a degree of fame and notoriety about him. It also hints that this is based on a real person

 Our short film poster

For our short film poster, we made sure to use lots of the conventions we learnt from our research into both short and feature length film posters. We wanted to give away hints of our narrative without showing the audience too much. This is slightly more difficult when there is a twist involved in the narrative, because you have to know exactly what information you can and can't put in the poster to show the best generalisation of the plot. We used lots of techniques to show things about our film to effectively draw audiences to wanting to see it. 

We showed the tone of the film in the colour tones we used for the poster. We did this by dulling the overall image, and adding darker edges to the poster. This pulled the focus to the centre of the poster, where the protagonist is composed. It also served as a metaphor for the protagonist being surrounded by darkness, much like certain points of our narrative. We emphasized the dark and sincere tone of our short film by having this darker toned image. The darker tone of our poster to match our narrative is similar in technique to the posters for Bronson and Lovefield, as all of them have used darker colours as genre codes to show the sincerity of the film. We also used mise en scene for the poster. The protagonist has a blanket and is wearing dark clothes and boots. We chose this because these clothes, and particularly the blanket, imply a lack of wealth and suggest that she could be homeless. This is backed by her composure, her arms are crossed over, implying that she is either upset or that she may be trying to keep warm. Both of these can imply the theme of homelessness. This also shows that our film will be a social realism film, as the dark tones combined with the mise en scene for homelessness create this genre code. 

The title is composed along the wall, with the font matching the brick lines to give a sense of perspective. We have also made the title fade from opaque to slightly transparent, which hints at a possible twist or change in the narrative. We chose the bold font to match what might appear on popular magazines, and we have done this to show that we've metaphorically taken this idea and applied it to the real world, much like we have done to title.

We have used conventions from other short films as well. There are social media links in the bottom right hand corner. This lets the audience aware of our online marketing campaign, and gives them information about what platform they can reach our company or the film itself. There are two film festival awards opposite the title, for the Tribeca and Cambridge film festivals. We chose these, as bigger and more popular festivals such as Raindance and Sundance are often difficult to get films shown in due to their popularity and status, however the two we chose seem more appropriate for a debut short film like ours. There are also two relevant reviews from companies. We chose to use single words as opposed to star ratings, as these are typically given to feature films, yet single worded parise can be given to both short and feature length films.

Little White Lies review

Our last task was to create a review in the style of Little White Lies magazine. Little White Lies is an independent magazine company that evolves around reviewing short and feature length films. They have become known for their unique style of presentation, which separates them from typical magazines. They are subscription based, and release magazines bi-monthly. Their target audience is middle to upper class millennials. This is represented from the way they present their magazines to what content they include. Their target audience also fit within our target audience, as we were aiming to make a film for 16-25 year olds.

The typical conventions of Little White Lies include:

• Artwork on the cover, showing a film in a unique style, which is then used as the theme/style throughout that magazine

• Clear layout, nearly always black on white, with space divided equally between texts, reviews and images

• Images used appropriately and to show genre

• There is never usually a contents page, which is a unique convention that encourages readers to find out for themselves. Contents are only included if it fits the theme of that issue for a specific purpose

• Introduce reviews with relevant information about the director, then go on to review the film and give is a consequent rating out of 5 based on 'Anticipation', 'Entertainment' and 'In Retrospect'

We have used this in our review, to make it as close as possible to an actual review that the magazine would put out if they ever saw our short film. We were quite critical with ours, as the magazine would be, and we took into account many of the problems there were with our film. We were critical of our slower pace in the first half of the film, and then went on to talk about the twist ending, and the relevance of our genre (social realism). We have used elements of humour that often occur in the reviews of Little White Lies, and this also applies to our target audience of 16-25, as this will hold attention more through the large body of text by giving the content variety.