Short Film Week 2-Lesson One

In todays lesson Ryan, Taylor, Niall and I sat in our group and began generating ideas, we used some of Niall's and Taylor's ideas as a starting block. These included short films regarding fear, fears that follow and control people or how someone can see someone else's fears. Taylor mentioned using his car to drive and film in a country lane which would add to the visual style of a film.

We also talked about a back up or possibly using an idea that was generated from Taylor throughout the post secrets lesson, this idea was about someone tapping his pencil on a desk and deciding on a victim.

We debated as a group to try and develop these ideas and strengthen narratives. As a group independently we decided to bring two ideas in each for next lesson which was Tuesday 15th February.

Inspiration Week-Lesson Four

In this lesson I had to present one of our ideas that was created throughout "Inspiration Week", I had to present on my own as the rest of my group were not in due to university interviews. I felt uncomfortable to present without the group as it felt as if i was was only putting across my idea. I talked about the poem called "Have A Nice Day" by Spike Milligan, I talked about creating a short film that was based on the poem however altering it so that it seem that a normal man was drowning in his work instead of drowning by water. I talked about camera shots specifically the use of shot-reverse-shot that would be commonly used in this short film showing the dialogue in which this case are the lyrics of the poem.

The Poem Itself:

Have A Nice Day

'Help, help, ' said a man. 'I'm drowning.' 'Hang on, ' said a man from the shore. 'Help, help, ' said the man. 'I'm not clowning.' 'Yes, I know, I heard you before. Be patient dear man who is drowning, You, see I've got a disease. I'm waiting for a Doctor J. Browning. So do be patient please.' 'How long, ' said the man who was drowning. 'Will it take for the Doc to arrive? ' 'Not very long, ' said the man with the disease. 'Till then try staying alive.' 'Very well, ' said the man who was drowning. 'I'll try and stay afloat. By reciting the poems of Browning And other things he wrote.' 'Help, help, ' said the man with the disease, 'I suddenly feel quite ill.' 'Keep calm.' said the man who was drowning, ' Breathe deeply and lie quite still.' 'Oh dear, ' said the man with the awful disease. 'I think I'm going to die.' 'Farewell, ' said the man who was drowning. Said the man with the disease, 'goodbye.' So the man who was drowning, drownded And the man with the disease past away. But apart from that, And a fire in my flat, It's been a very nice day.

By Spike Milligan

Referencing:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/have-a-nice-day/

Inspiration Week-Lesson Two

In this lesson we look at postcards for inspiration. A book was released called "Post Secret" and was written by Frank Warren. The book allowed people to send in there secrets on a postcard anonymously, these postcards were published in the book.

I took inspiration from a postcard that stated:

I haven't seen my dad in 10 years and it kills me everyday.

The synopsis I wrote was based on this story:

Billy is a 23 year old factory worker who hopes everyday that his dad will visit him, but he never shows. Billy hasn't seen his father in 10 years, when Billy was 13 he seemed very close to his father. There was no sign for him too leave. Billy now 23 years old has decided to go and find his dad and find out the true reason he left.

Whilst receiving feedback regarding this story, Ms stated that this idea was too complex for a short film and that the idea would be more suited to a mainstream film.

Inspiration Week-Lesson One-Defining "Story"

Inspiration Week-Lesson One-Structual Theorists

As a class we then looked at narrative theories created by structural theorists:

Tzvetan Todorov:Todorov proposed a basic theory/structure for all narratives. He stated that films and TV programme’s begin with an equilibrium, a calm period. Then elements of disruption cause disequilibrium, creating a climax and a period of unsettlement. A new equilibrium is created; where normality is restored but not the same as the beginning.

Aristotle: Aristotle believed that the plot of a narrative must be “a whole”, with a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning should introduce the protagonist, building a relationship between the audience and characters. The middle/climax must be caused by earlier incidents that unwind to cause an upset or argument between characters. The end/restoration, must allow characters find a solution that solves all of there needs.

Claude Levi-Strauss: Claude Levi Strauss believed that characters built up the narrative of media texts, he argued that binary oppositions or a conflict between two characters or scenarios helped concrete the narrative.

Vladimir Propp: Vladmir Propp like Claude Levi-Strauss also believed that characters help build up the narrative. He argued that characters in a film usually folktales/fairytales fit in certain stereotypes and categories and this i what builds up the narrative. He believed that there were commonly eight character functions used including the villain, the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, the father, the dispatcher and the false hero.

Roland Barthes: Roland Barthes believed that codes and conventions/unwritten rules of media texts help build up the narrative which allows the audience to make sense of the media text. It a

lso allo

ws the media text to be in full control of the audience and make them feel how the media text wants them to feel. This theory is quite complex however it informs the audience.

We then had to apply our synopsis to these theories:

Todorov Theory:

A state of equilibrium a the outset:

All is calm as the music gig.

A disruption of that equilibrium by some action:

He spills his coffee on her.

A recognition that there has been a disruption:

Doctors say that she has severe burns.

An attempt to repair that disruption:

The doctor treats her with medicine.

A re-instatement of the initial equilibrium but with some change:

They have children and get married.

Claude Levi-Strauss Theory/Binary Oppositions:

Inspiration Week-Lesson One

In this lesson we discussed what laid ahead in Unit 3: Production Management Project. As a class we used a short film exercise to help build inspiration for us. The exercise was simple, we all had a individual piece of paper and wrote the first line to the story. Once this line was wrote we folded the paper and passed it to another member of the class who then writes the second line of the story.

The first line was to write a man name and what he does for a living. I wrote:

His name is Bob and he is a DJ.

The second line was to write a woman's name and what she does for a living:

Her name is Rachel. She is a primary school teacher.

The third line is about how the two characters met:

The man spills coffee on the woman at a road crossing and the woman hits him in shock.

The fourth line is dialogue from a character:

He said that he always wanted to know what a woman looked like, she was shocked.

The fifth is about an incident/big event that occurs involving the two people:

All of a sudden there was a car crash in the road in the road next to them.

The sixth line is the conclusion of the story/the ending:

They have children and get married whilst the female is giving birth.

From this exercise I had to make a synopsis of the story that was generated by members of the class who wrote different lines. I wrote this:

Bob is a 35 year old DJ who met Rachel at a gig he was performing at, one day they were drinking coffee and he spilt some on his Rachel who is his girlfriend. The pain was horrendous for Rachel and she decided to go into hospital, the doctor offers medication which eases the pain. Once the burns had healed the couple decided to get married and have children.

Chinese Forktie

Chinese Forktie is the 2001 DepicT! Winner, it was created by Andrew Davies and raises the issue off knife crime. The film is informative for its audience; this is proved by the monologue of the main character that tells us facts and statistics about knife crime.

Andrew Davies who created the film was anti knife crime and the character that as an audience we presume is based on him talks about how he disagrees with violence and fighting. He mentions Scotland this therefore informing us the location/setting of the film.

The film contains no soundtrack and we do not know any characters names however there is experimentation with colouring as everything in the film has block colours with a blue tint.

The genre is not very clear until the shock ending off the protagonist stabbing someone with a fork, it then makes the audience realize that this is a social realism short film.

The camera work is quite simple in the film as it shows a young male walking through the park in a variety of different shots. The monologue brings the story together however it also confuses the audience as the protagonist asks us as an audience a question:
“You know I aint had a fight since junior school?”
This allows the active audience to ask questions back, maybe concerning his mental health as he could be speaking to an authority.
This could also represent the unpredictable outburst with the ending stabbing incident and repetitive use of foul language.

To watch this film go to:

http://www.depict.org/shortlists/winners/# and it is the 2001 DepicT! winner

Referencing:

http://www.depict.org/shortlists/winners/#

Geri's Game

Geris game was made in 1997 and is another Pixar short film, it’s animation is a lot more advanced compare to Luxo Jr made in 1986, this shows the progression of technology and how Pixars animations have improved other the years and will continue to do so.

Geris Game has a basic narrative and contains only one character “Geri” The film is quite comical as we feel sorry for the old man who is playing chess against himself, this element makes us as an audience offer sympathy for Geri however his optimism is inspiring and makes us laugh especially with the competition between the good and bad Geri who are playing each other at chess.

The mise-en-scene sets the scene perfectly, as an audience we can see that it is a bright summers day. Little soundtrack is used within the film however Geri’s slow footsteps are heard along with the traditional old mans groan as “good Geri” starts to lose his game of chess.

The film uses the built in camera function within 3D technology perfectly as the camera helps tell the story. The camera movement is ideal as it cuts between the good and bad Geri at either end of the table quickly. Even though as an audience we realise that he is moving extremely slow form one end of the table to the other.

Depth of field is an element that this film has experimented with as “Geris Game” uses depth of field. In the whole film Geri, the chessboard and the table are always kept in focus however the background tresses are slightly blurred. This is effective as it shows keeps the audience looking and watching Geri and not getting distracted.

The film like “Luxo Jr” follows a equilibrium-disequilibrium-equilibrium pattern this is proven by Geri at the beginning of the film calmly setting up the game of chess, disequilibrium occurs when the “good Geri” starts to lose all he pieces” however comically all is resolved as “good Geri” tricks “bad Geri” allowing “good Geri” to win the game of chess.

Referencing:

http://www.garagetv.com/video-gallery/reinyy/Geri_s_game.aspx

Rubber Johnny

Rubber Johnny is a 6-minute short film that is also classified as a music video. Chris Cunningham directed it in 2005 and like Scummy Man made it to an individual DVD. When audience members bought the DVD they also got illustrations and photographs. This shows that short films were giving more than just a film to its audience.

The film is extremely experimental and fast paced this helps concrete the genre of music video. The film is experimental with its low-key lighting, infrared night vision colouring and its deformed main character who is known as “Rubber Johnny”

Rubber Johnny follows the music video codes and conventions as it cuts to the beat of the drub and bass/trance track. The film/music video itself is controversial and raises questions for an active audience, we are shocked with what we are seeing visually however we continue to try make sense of it by asking ourselves questions.

Post-production is a huge factor within this film and has brought it all together, I personally like the way how the editors/visual effects have experimented with motion blur and the speed off the visuals being played.

Referencing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3far9oHZOsI&feature=PlayList&p=A25C25CC56439DB0&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31

Scummy Man

Scummy man was released on DVD platform in 2006, for short films to make it on an individual DVD is quite rare. This shows the popularity of the film. The film has a relevance to the band “Arctic Monkeys” as they have a song called Scummy Man and clips of the film are played within the music video.

Stephen Graham a well known actor plays the character George, he is most well known for his role in Shane Meadows “This Is England” George is a deluded violent character, from the beginning of the film we can see that he is not well liked as he gets ditched by a colleague who uses foul language which immediately gives away the social realism genre.

The accents of characters and the mise-en-scene help establish the location. Several other characters are introduced throughout the film including a prostitute addicted to drugs and a taxi driver. Prostitution and drug addiction are both issues that concrete the social realism genre.

This film uses the convention from TV Dramas. It use’s binary oppositions in this case being George against the taxi driver. This is shown throughout camera shots and the use of dialogue used for e.g. George uses foul language and is very aggressive where as the taxi driver means well and cares for Nina (Prostitute) therefore the two characters oppose eachother.

Scummy man is a social realism British film that is hard hitting and shocking for its audience, this is shown by the mise-en-scene and the choice of actors and their accents for e.g. Stephen Graham is known for playing a brutal violent role and I feel that this adds to Scummy Man’s success.



Referencing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhCaLTJfjPU&feature=player_embedded

About A Girl

About a Girl was released in 2001, it was produced by Silver Films and won a BAFTA. Julie Rufferford wrote the original story; Julie decided to write a story about a young girl struggling with life. She was influenced by the pregnancy rates of young females nowadays. The film had a budget of thirty three thousand pounds, which is a lot for a film that lasts 9 minutes and 50 seconds.

The introduction is simple but effective; it straightaway opposes the mainstream film “About a Boy” and uses modern technology of mobile phone texting to creative an effective title. The use of the mobile phone text attracts the youth audience in which this film targets.

The first shot shows the main character as a silhouette, the camera work is effective as it is a low angle shot, this represents her dream as she sings and dance’s to a Britney Spears song. The camera shot is effective as it informs us as an audience that this is where she wants to be and where she feels that she belongs. The lyrics of the Britney song that she singing are also relevant as they have meaning to her and how she’s been brought up.

As she begins to walk and talk she looks directly at the camera, this is effective as it makes you feel that she is directly telling you her story. In the background mise-en-scene helps establish the scene by showing urban surroundings, a lot of brick walls are used this could represent a barrier in her life, she can’t get past her brick wall so to speak.

Her strong accent gives away the location and setting of the film and from then on we can see who this film targets and what category it fits in, in this case being social realism.

When camera shots are shown with her and her family we see that she is pushed to the side and is isolated. In the first shot we see of her family mise-en-scene and the diegetic sound sets the scene as we can hear dogs barking, police sirens, baby crying. From this we can tell that this is not the best of places for a single mother to raise children, because of this we feel sorry for the main character.

Throughout the film experimental camera work is used, this connotes the unpredictable main character and what she is going to say next. She shares the same dream with her friends who have all had a similar upbringing. She often turns to her father for help however her father is not a responsible adult and he pushes her away time after time this emphasizes her loneliness.

The ending is a shock for its audience and throughout the ending no sound is heard as the visuals dominate the viewers attention, after the film has ended we feel guilty because as an audience we didn’t take her seriously and thought she was just a little child but as the ending occurs we start to re-judge the main character and offer sympathy.

Referencing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL2z8Qzn1dc&feature=player_embedded

Distribution Of Short Films

Successful distribution for short films is quite rare comparing to mainstream who rake in the profit throughout the distribution period. Short films aren’t as popular as mainstream and can’t rely on box office and DVD sales. Successful short films can often make it in a compilation DVD however these are commonly used for educational purposes, On a rare occasion a short film can make it to a DVD just for itself. When a popular short film makes it this far not a lot off profit is made compared to mainstream films. Examples of short films that have made it this far are Chris Cunningham’s “Rubber Johnny” and also Shane Meadows who made a compilation DVD of just his work.

With the convergence of technology allowing people to surf the web on games devices and mobile phones this maximizes the amount of times different people can view short films. With sites like YouTube allowing millions of people to watch videos, a short film needs to be uploaded and once that process is complete it can be viewed any number of times by anyone surfing the web. This is part of distribution and is beneficial for short films as it is there way to be broadcasted to the world.

I recently viewed “Peter and the Wolf”, its distribution was unique as it was part of an iPhone application. The application was free and was called 12 days of Christmas. It basically allowed the iPhone user to download free content throughout the 12 days of Christmas, one of these days allowed me to download “Peter and the Wolf” it is strange to think that this short film has been distributed through an application and iTunes.

I think the distribution of short films will continue to develop along with the technology that allows user to view these films.

Silver Films (Film Production Company)

Silver films are a successful film company that was founded in 1996, they have produced five films in total including About a Girl (BAFTA Winner), Jump, Endgame, Talking with Angels and there most recent film Garden With Red Rose’s which is currently on the international festival circuit.

The website allows users to browse through these films and view them, I feel that all the films have a distinctive style that works well with the title of the company Silver Films. The website is very simple but professional and I believe that this reflects throughout the rest of the company.

“We believe that if you talk to people, rather than shout, they listen. If they’re listening, you can connect with them”.

Quote by Silver Films.

I strongly feel that this quote sums up the company Silver Films perfectly, on the whole silver films have produced five high quality films over the years and I believe will continue to do so.

Referencing:

http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/films/shorts

http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/about

Coffee Shorts (Film Production Company)

Coffee Shorts is a new independent short film production company which was founded in 2003, as they are a recent production company they have only produced and released 7 short films. They don’t just showcase their own work but allow other young aspiring filmmakers to share their films with Coffee Shorts audiences.

Coffee Shorts head of film Steve Piper shows his passion by suggesting that the work that is showcased on coffeeshorts.com is original and is different from other websites that show commercial videos.

“We've scoured film festivals, online web video sites and mountains of film submissions to find the most talented indie filmmakers around the world to screen on our network”
Quote by Coffee Shorts

I completely agree with this quote as it proven by the professionalism of the company, coffee shorts uses other website to show off work, they use Blogger to allowing viewers to leave feedback. They also allow users to share work that they have viewed and send it to friends via many different social networking sites including Myspace and Facebook. This is effective as the audience itself promote the company by sharing and viewing each others work in which coffee shorts call “Art”

Referencing:

http://www.coffeeshorts.co.uk/filmmakers.html

http://coffeeshorts.blogspot.com/

http://www.metacafe.com/channels/coffeeshorts/

Atom Films- Atom.com

Atom Films was founded in 1998 by Mika Salmi, It is an award winning entertainment network allowing users to watch original short films and animations. Atom films are a successful company that have produced and exhibited titles including Angry Kid, Happy Tree Friends and Star Wars fan films. Atom Films benefits form the convergence of technology as the company itself has worked alongside mobile phone companies and other services including Xbox and iTunes. This is a clever marketing strategy as it maximizes the chance of people viewing the content for e.g. a user of a modern mobile phone may use the internet to browse the web and watch short films on Atom.com.

In August 2006 Atom entertainment was bought by MTV, all Atom properties were sold including Atom Films, Addicting Games and Atom uploads. In June 2008 Atom Films was re-launched as Atom.com however their agenda had changed as they have removed original indie content and now just focus on comedy. This was a bold decision for Atom however two of there biggest hits “Angry Kid” and “Happy Tree Friends” both fall under the comedy genre.

As I said before about the convergence of technology benefitting Atom, new promotion has occurred including a new programme “Atom TV” that airs on Comedy Central. This progression occurred at the re-launch of Atom Films.

I was interested to find out more about the marketing of Atom and how they promote themselves as an original entertainment company, I was keen to find out what other innovative platforms are used to attract desired audiences.

I researched into the promotion of the company itself and was interested how Atom.com promoted themselves via hugely popular sites including fan pages on Facebook and Youtube channels etc. Atom have also utilized current technology by creating an iPhone application with relevance to “Happy Tree Friends” this shows the extent of how Atom.com use innovative platforms to target there audience and to promote their content.

Referencing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom.com

http://htf.atom.com/

http://www.atom.com/

http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_angry_kid/

Protest and Free Cinema

1950’s Britain was an important decade for British films as a protest occurred against the mainstream cinema scene. Britain’s free cinema’s mostly played short films that were black & white with similar conventions to documentaries and reality TV. The British free cinema was funded by the BFI (British Film Institute) however this movement caught on in France as they had cinemas that were free and played short films as well, one cinema in particularly was called ‘Cinema verité’.

“Cinéma vérité” followed the British documentary/reality TV style of filmmaking, with the use of experimental naturalistic techniques with editing and camerawork, they also tried to use of the camera to provoke subjects/issues. In French the term‘Cinema verité’ means "truthful cinema".

Within the 1950’s working class people were treated unfairly as they were regarded as criminals and low lives. The release of the film “We are the Lambeth Boys” changed this stereotype as it focused on the working class people that no other film had done before. Karel Reisz was a founder member of the free cinema documentary film movement. His film “We Are The Lambeth Boys” was made in 1958 and was created due to the influence of protest cinema, itwas a naturalistic depiction of the working class people, it was unusual as it showed the leisure life of working-class teenagers in the 1950’s. The success of film allowed the BBC to make two follow-up films about the same people; these follow-ups were broadcasted in 1985.

When Producing these types of short films the production crew which were usually unpaid used 16mm bolex cameras, these cameras are the same cameras used to create “Meshes in the Afternoon” (1940’s) This shows little technology progression for filmmakers between the 1940’s – 1950’s.

Referencing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinéma_vérité

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Reisz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANb3l-jRfh0&feature=PlayList&p=4C6C47EB2D1CB79A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2

Film Festivals Table

	Encounters	LFFS	RSS
When Did They Start?	1995 – Brief Encounters	2003 – The Halloween Short Film Festival – 2008 LFFS.	1998-Rushes Soho Shorts
When DO They Take Place?	Bristol – November	11 Venues all over London. 8-17 Jan 2010	10 day festival 21st-31st July
What Awards Catergoreis Are there?	International Jury Award South West Jury Award DepicT! Awards Film Club Teenage Jury Award Best British Award UK Film Council Award Cartoon d’Or Nominations Online Audience Award 4mations International Newcomer in Animation Award South West Screen Audience Award Film Club Child Jury Award Animation/Action Nahemi/Kodak prize for Creative Film making Cinematography	UK FILM COUNCIL AWARD for best Film of the Festival Shooting People Comedy Award Current TV Documentary Award East End Film Festival Award Time Out Award for Best London Film Sci-Fi London Award for Best Horror Film Wallflower Press Award for Best Experimental Film	The international category The long form category The documentary category The animation category Te best new-comer category Music video category The broadcast design category
How To Enter?	Can be sent via DVD or www.yousendit.com	Unavailable information as festival has just finished	15 pound per film. Submit via uploads or DVD Post
What Kind Of Film Do You Need To Apply	Wide range of genres because the wide range of awards.	Wide range of genres because the wide range of awards.	Wide range of genres because the wide range of awards.
How Big Is The Festival? Sponsorship? Event?	Huge amount of sponsors including big companies etc. that suggests it is big scale.	Over 200 screenings. 6000 tickets sold.	1200 professional & amateur filmmakers 140 films in final selections.