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
Based on the comments I decided that it would be appropriate to crop the image down a bit, and resize a couple of things to better use the space available. I made the title bigger and more perspective based. We decided that it lacked many of the conventions needed initially, so we filled up the corners with the billing block, social media links, and film awards, making sure to add shadow to the areas being covered to make these conventions stand out just a little bit more. This made it look more complex than it did before, and everything was laid out very formally and there were no unprofessional looking elements on the poster.
