Beyond Words - Armand De Saint Salvy

The title is very important because it places the audience in a position they have never been before. The absence of sound allows the audience to empathise with the protagonist. They feel disorientated and out of touch in the world. Makes us concentrate more on the surroundings and actions of those around us. It lowers our reaction time, which is why it is more frightening to us when the guy grabs her. The switch between sound and no sound makes the scene much more brutal and heartbreaking to watch because the woman is helpless.

The movement of the camera moves with the exercises, which places us there. As she walks to her car, we feel voyeuristic, like we are intruding on her life. The switches between the absence of sound and sight in both characters, leaves the audience helpless as well.  By doing this, the director connects with the audience at their most vulnerable and that is why this piece is so impacting.

It makes the audience more aware that every person has a story, which we do not know about. The beauty of the film is achieved in the deaf woman helping the blind man and he her. It makes the audience think about the importance that everyday sense which we take for granted have on our lives.

Scarlet's Witch

The low-angle shot of the camera tracking along the road, along with the music demonstrates that the journey that Scarlet makes. The de-saturated colours help create this sense of mystery, with the forest surrounding it. The opening of what seems like a cottage door in darkness as the title ‘Scarlet’s Witch’ implies the dark tone of the narrative and the idea of black magic. The colour of the title using red fading into a harsh yellow is a connotation of hellish, dark imagery. The repetition of this shot later on, when Scarlet goes to visit the witch reminds the audience of this. The opening voiceover dialogue ‘Once upon a time there was a little girl named Scarlet’ is fairytale like, and so sets up the structure of the plot, good being taken over by evil before overcoming it again.

The use of the camera movements and angles are interesting because they keep the reader’s attention. For example, the shot of Scarlett on the swing whilst watching the other kids play together highlights her loneliness and immediately establishes a reason for actions later on. The far away shot of Scarlett as she stands alone in the wood make her look vulnerable and the narrowness of the path makes her seem as though she is trapped. The close-ups of her support this, as the audience can see the fear written on her face even though she sounds brave as she talks. The switch to the sand-timer being in focus and then out draws the audience to the importance of time in the story. As the camera moves slowly through the trees the audience is put in Scarlet’s position which creates a feeling of trepidation in them. By keeping the hourglass in shot as the audience see Scarlet crying, again shows its importance.

The director’s deliberate use of lighting is very important because it creates the tone of each scene. Changes from normal, bright colouring to darker and almost sinister one adds to the sense of danger. The fade in and out of black helps move the pace of the narrative on. The contrast of the warm interior of the cottage and twist in the narrative deliberately changes the audience’s expectation and thus makes the ending unexpected. The third repetition of the cottage door opening again is much more ominous because there is a creak and the mise-en-scene has again adopted a darker colouring, making the dark interior appear more threatening.

The use of a voiceover helps to add to the audience’s feelings; “She had to do something. So she did,” This sense of foreboding overshadows the narrative. Another example is, “Scarlet had finally used her favour. But time had run out,” a sense of fearful anticipation is created for the audience and they want to know what will happen to Scarlet. Ending with a powerful emphasis on the moral of selfishness and a question, ‘What would you sacrifice?’ the audience is left to ponder on it and the importance of character and integrity. 

Short Film Company Case Study - Silver Films

It was founded by the producer Janey de Nordwall in 1996 and since then the company have produced five award winning shorts, including About A Girl and their most recent Garden With Red Roses. Their use their shorts to raise awareness and raise money for charity, which I think works effectively because of the expansion of the internet. The company also deal with advertising, of which the director Richard Oliver is in charge of, mostly of them being for car companies. For example, one  of themost recognisable is the Toyota Auris for ITV Mystery Dramas

Generating Ideas Lesson

What makes a good Short Film idea?

• Twist in the narrative
• Something that makes you think 
• Realism and Imagination
• Simplistic i.e. the narrative
• Different Situations

Things to do:

• Synopsis
• Detailed Storyboard and Shot List
• Script
• Production Schedule

Prelim Task (Fourth Lesson)

·         We extended our knowledge in this lesson by learning how to create more exciting and effective titles.

·         We used Photoshop to edit the photograph of a blackboard (or rather, green board) we found and added text to it, ‘Lost Boy’.

·         We then experimented with the smudge tool, trying to get the wipe effect.

·         We realised that to do that, we would need to import each stage of the process into Final Cut Pro. We would have to save one picture with one smudge across it, save it Photoshop and then drag it into our sequence. We would have to then repeat that stage, saving them as different files, before dragging them together  in Final Cut and speeding them up to make it appear as one if one fluid movement.

·         We had the chance to practice this technique, although we never had the chance to perfect it as we run out of time.



Lost Boy from BDC on Vimeo.

Prelim Task (Third Lesson)

Here are a list of things we did today, and how we did them:

·         We created a title:

¾     We used Text to write the title and chose the Font, Chalkduster, which appeared to be chalk-like and thus linked to our narrative and setting.

¾     We then wrote single letters of our title Lost Boy in each text area and dragged them down into our project separately. I then shortened their duration so that each letter appeared on the screen faster. We then reversed this by copying each segment and putting it back down on the timeline but in the reverse order.

¾     Again, we fastened it up, before fading it into the opening shot of the narrative.

·         We decide to experiment and see whether we could make the title blurry, to create the effect that someone was rubbing the title off the board.

¾     We tried to speed each segment up and add fades in between them, but that had no effect on them, apart from making the title appear and disappear very fast.

Alive in Johburg Analysis

The first shot immediately establishes the mise-en-scene. The audience are looking through the back of a convoy – there are lots of point-of-view shots. It is dusty, cars are destroyed, and it looks like a war scene. There is an alien spaceship in the background,  which symbolises elements of outer space The camera moves/shakes quite a lot, which deliberately gives the piece an amateur feel. At some points it helps to heighten the confusion, which contributes to the threat of the aliens i.e. running away. The medium shots of the robots as the police try to shoot it from all different angles, show us that it is invincible, which would make the audience feel threatened by this unknown creature.

The way the title slowly fades into and out of black makes it seem like a documentary-style film i.e. infers longevity. Ambiguity is created, for example through the hazy setting against the foreground the now ‘aliens’ as we know them, spaceships.

 The voiceover as  news footage of these mechanical robots or aliens evokes a documentary style because of its realism. Lots of different points of views. “This is when things really started to get out of hand,” implies that something bad is going to happen along with the visual of police getting out armed with guns out of a helicopter. The music at this point supports the build up of tension, with shot-reverse-shots of the police running towards the robot.

The date 1990 tells us that this is set in apartheid South Africa and is significance because at that time there was complete segregation and the idea of different races is explored metaphorically. The aliens can be interpreted as black people, those who were poor and had nothing.  It leaves the audience thinking, what happened? which is a very unusual way for a documentary to end.

Researching Short Film Festivals

The National Film Challenge:

·         The 48 Hour Film Project have created a worldwide competition that allows anyone to create a film in just one weekend. (this year 22^nd October-25^th)

·         The National Film Challenge was started in 2004 on the back of the 48 Hour Film Project (2001)

·         It is done over the internet to allow it to be worldwide.

·         It is produced by the KDHX Community Media based in Missouri .

·         A panel of judges then choose the top films and people vote for it

·         The winning film is shown at the Filmapaloozo, which is the festival finale and there is a cash prize to be won.

http://filmchallenge.org/

Short Film Central:

·         Is a place where directors from all over the world can upload their works and enter different festivals

·         Also has industry contacts and information about upcoming screenings of shorts

·         The New York City Short Film Festival screens many different films from around the world.

·         It was created by the filmmakers David Barba, James Pellerito and Jennifer Pellerito, has following categories such as drama, comedy, foreign language and animation. This year winners include:

-        Best Animation - La Tranchée

-        Best Comedy – Diplomacy

-        BFLF - Il Gioco

-        Best Drama - Over Cards

www.shortfilms.org.uk/submit/

The London Short Film Festival:

·         Originally called the Halloween Short Film Festival it was organised by Phillip Ilson and Kate Taylor in 2003, renamed in 2008

·         Independent and creative film directors see their work screen over a ten day period at some famous cinemas i.e. Shortwave Cinemas

·         In this year alone over 6000 tickets were sold and for the 42 events at the 10 venues with more than 200 films being screened. It was described by Time Out as a party, “Too good a party to miss".

·         This year's nomination include; THE BEDFORDS (Henry Coombes) and the LAST TRAIN (David Schofield). However, this year's was YOU’RE THE STRANGER HERE (Tom Geens)

·         The festival is very easy to mention and has support for low budget films. If you have a film under five minutes and it cost less than £500 then you enter for free.

www.shortfilms.org.uk/submit/

Future Shorts:

·         Since beginning in 2003, Future Shorts has become a worldwide centre-stage (over 90 cities) for filmmakers to screen their work.

·         It is a short film distributor centrally from London and holds monthly film festivals.

·         In just one film submission filmmakers can have their film shown over all the world

·         The monthly programmes are shown at 20 venues across the UK

http://futureshorts.com/index.php

Neill Blomkamp

Neill Blomkamp

Blomkamp (1979) is a South-African, Canadian-based film director who is best known for his 2009 feature-film District 9, which was produced by Peter Jackson, and based on his 2006 shot  Alive in Johburg. Blomkamp studied at the Vancouver Film School and later worked as a visual effects artist.

Blomkamp is well-known for the documentary-style he evokes, hand-held, with use of lots of computer generated effects. Landfall is an example of this; a trilogy of shorts set in the Halo universe (which is has since become a video) and was directed by Blomkamp in 2007. One of them later went on to win the Cannes Lions 2008 in the Film Lions category. Some of his other short films have also included, Yellow, Tetra Vaal and commercials for Nike and Citroën (find example).

It was recently announced that Blomkamp would work on his own solo project a new science fiction film called Elysium.

Meshes of The Afternoon Analysis

The focus on the flower as it put on the pavement highlights its symbolism. The medium-shot of the knife in the bread and telephone on the stairs shows the importance of the object. The concentration on all the little actions i.e. opening the door, note the importance of similarities in each repetition of the actions. It’s these little changes that help to make it hard to grasp reality because it is not clearly distinguished as to what is a dream.

The shadow of a woman moves towards the flower creates a sense of ambiguity as forebodes. Her fatigue is shown in point of view. The aperture is played around with to allow the audience to view things the way she does. There are continuous switches between her point-of-view and the audience point of view, which adds to this air of confusion surrounding the ‘narrative’.  Every time the protagonist bumps into a wall camera follows the movement of her body and replicates that. The deliberate beating/or systematic knocking of the drum as the female protagonist looks around the room creates a sense of dread and almost replicates the sound of knocking at hell’s gate.

Maya Deren

Maya Deren

Maya Deren (1917) was a prominent pioneering Avant-Garde filmmaker and director in the 1940s and 50’s and revolutionised film – and her social circles included the likes of André Breton (founder of Surrealism). She wrote inspirational books about experimental cinema, for example Cinematography: The Creative Use of Reality and set up a scholarship called the Creative Film Foundation. Her original name was Eleanora Derenkowsky and she was born in Ukraine and moved to New York in 1922 – She later attended Syracuse University and became a member of the ‘Young People’s Socialist League’. Eleanor changed her name to Maya in 1943, which is significant because of its meaning, illusion; it can be interpreted that this refers to the fact that she was an experimentalist, creating illusions in an industry trying to replicate reality. One of her most famous quotes remains true today, “And what more could I possibly ask as an artist than that your most precious visions, however rare, assume sometimes the forms of my images.”

Deren is noted for directing, editing and performing. In 1946, Deren was awarded the, ‘Creative Work in the Field of Motion Pictures’ a Guggenheim Fellowship (which is an American grant for exceptional creativity). She won the Grand Prix Internationale for a 16 mm experimental film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1947 for her first film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). In the 1940s she openly criticised Hollywood for being a barrier to creative forms in motion pictures. She broke the boundaries as she defied Hollywood.

Deren died in 1961, at the age of 44, from a brain haemorrhage brought on by extreme malnutrition. Her condition was also weakened by amphetamines, which she was taking on a daily basis. She has influenced and fascinated contemporaries, for example David Lynch’ Lost in Highway (1997) was inspired by Meshes of the Afternoon. In 1986, The American Film Institute created the Maya Deren Award – to honour young independent film or video makers. Her films are now shown mostly in experimentalist, and feminist classes.

archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/deren.html - Cached - Similar

Timeline of Short Film

·         1895

-        The first short film was publicly exhibited. It was by the Lumieré Brothers and was entitled La Sortie de la Usine.

-        The length of the film was not deliberate, but rather due to technical restraints.

·         1910

-        The films started to become longer now, because of technical advancements and so films that were made deliberately short were coined as, ‘shot subjects’.

-        ‘Short Subjects’ became quite popular amongst audiences because people could go to the cinema and see 3 or 4 films rather than just one. This was important at the time, as there were few forms of entertainment for the masses.

·         1930s

-        Hollywood Studios began to be ‘block-booked’ which meant that they would rent out all their films in a season to one theatre or theatre chain.

-        Also, Hollywood Studios started to force small production companies to sell their shorts, so that they could turn them into feature films.

-        The Supreme Courts of the US declared black-booking to be illegal in 1948 after the United States versus Paramount Pictures.

-        The 1930s was the beginning of what was known as the ‘golden age’ in Hollywood and with that emerged the ‘classic’ film narrative (a feature-length film of 90 minutes or more) and these were more profitable for the film exhibitors than shorts.

·         1960s

-        The invention of the TV-mass medium and inflation meant that by the 60s, short film had literally disappeared.

·         1980s

-        In the 1980s, short film was reinvented and they were much darker and grittier. However, the major change in short film, which still applies from the modern short, is that they were no longer about commercial success. Instead they were more about style and conveying a message.

·         Avant-Garde

-        It was about breaking the boundaries and being innovative in film , doing something weird, wonderful and different something that had never been seen or tried before.

-        The Avant-Garde director Maya Deren did this with her films during the 40s and 50s and thus promoted the creative freedom. An example is; ‘Meshes of the Afternoon’.

Prelim Task (Second Lesson)

Today’s lesson was spent beginning the editing process. We had to choose the best shots and takes to use, which was quite a challenge because some of our shots got interrupted and others were not shot from the best angle.  I enjoyed editing this piece with my group because we were able to agree on what do easily and had no problems. 

Prelim Task (First Lesson)

For the prelim task, I was put into a group with Darren, Heidi – our task was to film a character walking through a door, who would then sit down across from another character, and they would have a conversation. It could be filmed anyway we wanted it to, so long as we adhered to the 180-degree rule and had a match-in-action shot. I think that we all worked well together because we all brought different strengths to the project. Our group decided that we would think outside ‘of the box’ and chose to do our match-in-action shot from a high-angle of Darren walking through double doors, which was quite difficult to shoot, because we had to keep it steady.

I actually found filming quite different from previous experiences, because there were so many different aspects to try and take into to consideration, for example the white balance and the focus. When finished we then had to begin log and capture our footage into Final Cut Pro.

The Black Hole - Olly Williams & Phil Sansom

The way the black background expands out as title pan shot opening, is used to draw the audience’s attention to the protagonist.

The shot of the paper as it comes out of the photocopying machine highlights its importance to the narrative. The low-angled shot of ‘the man’ through the hole tells us that is open, but the next medium-long shot  plays with the audience’s mind as the hole from that front-angle does not look like a hole. The close up shot of the man’s face as he eats the chocolate allows the audience to see his full expression as the need of greed grows inside of him, in his eyes.  Every time the protagonist puts his hand near the hole there is an eerie, spooky sound which reflects the entering of the ‘abnormal’.  Its significance to the narrative’s metaphor of greed is clear as he opens the manager’s office, because its sound is emphasised. The last few shots of the short, as the man climbs into the safe and the hole drops, explains the moral and the metaphor the story is, that greed is consuming –  the audience are left positively ‘screaming’ at the protagonist to stop as he doesn’t. The static movement of the camera as the audience are drawn back from the safe, put us in that position, and it as though someone is taking pictures of the scene for evidence. I actually really enjoyed watching this one – and almost wished I could have seen what would happen the next when everyone one came into work the next day – because it was light-hearted compared to some of the more serious ones I have analysed.

Analysis of NewBoy - Steph Green

The title tells us that the film is going to be set in a school, which is supported by the by the way it is written in chalk, with a mixture of capitals and lowercases, they themselves a depiction of the journey the protagonist faces. The protagonist appears as a troubled child, he does not talk and seems to be distant from the class in a more unusual way than that of a new student. His story is slowly revealed through flashbacks – he no longer knows how to trust anyone (after he witnessed the father he idolized being shot) which is inferred by his uptight and stiff posture. The opening over-the-shoulder blurred shot and subsequent out-of-focus shots infer that the children are nameless face in the crowd and the shadowy, grey mise-en-scene reflect the lack of joy and pleasure in learning. This setting is deliberately juxtaposed with that of the protagonist’s (Joseph’s) previous school, where everything is bold and brightly coloured and the flashbacks balanced with the music depict a happy and relaxed atmosphere. The constant change between the settings makes the silent alien sounds and bleak reality of Joseph’s new school more evident. There are various shots that depict Joseph’s loneliness, for example the slow pan in the playground around the different groups within the hierarchal structure emphasise his place as an outsider. The music when Joseph is putting on his coat also tells the story and thus supports the visual – it starts off aldante, as it reaches its climax it becomes a slower adagio and agitato becoming restless. The ending is beautifully constructed with the shot of the of the three boys smiling in unity which stays in the audience’s mind and leaves this upbeat message from a seemingly bleak narrative.

Analysing Steal Away

The director gives the audience a sense of false expectation that the narrative will be based around a heist.  The non-diegetic music is generically associated with spy movie and the money in a briefcase is a symbol of the underworld. We see the cross between genres straight away – the cross in the car is deliberately juxtaposed with the audience’s expectations and is a metaphor for religion and the rejection of it. Like most short films, the director promptly establishes the narrative and his message about the consequences of actions using the robbery and consequently the shot in an element of surprise. The suspension of sound before the fatal sound of the shot reverberates increases the tension for the audience and adds to the weight of the slow motion and focus pull of the female protagonist’s reaction to the shot. This I believe is the defining moment of the film, as it is where life and death meet. The shot of the exit sign becomes a connotation of destiny for the whole film – the bright white light, down the tunnel, curving into the unknown.

The director stylistically uses everyday props to shape and convey meanings; for example, the red money is interpreted as a symbol of religion the sin that covers the protagonists’ lives. The simplicity of the props directly links to the simplicity of the message. The smooth yet exciting transition between two genres is enhanced by the protagonists’ reaction to the ‘blood money’, and the fact that it seems to fuel their sexual desires holds the audience in a suspended confusion. The water they use to immerse themselves is symbolically baptismal, as for the cleansing and forgiving of sins. The white train comes in slowly and silently like a ghost, because we cannot see anyone on it. The train is initially like danger for the protagonists because they do not see it until it is too late. The director has taken a song and used the everyday metaphor to help convey its moral of salvation to the audience. The director again changes the audiences’ expectations when they get on the train.

The lightning is an important supporting aspect of the story. The change from the normal lighting at the beginning, to the dark shadowy underground, metaphorically tells the story of a road from ‘hell’ to redemption. The flickering lights when the preacher’s assistant touches Michael’s face is the fight between  good and evil and it is like he is removing the innermost evil that no one else can see, which is reminiscent in the fact that no-one seems to notice what transpires between the two characters. The change after this is different the train becomes brighter and whiter and the dye that was the sin they carried around, as baggage is now non-existent. I thought that this short was excellent because of the inability to interpret the narrative. The director also challenges the idea that money can buy anything i.e. the man who kicked the assistant and tried to give him £20, does not end up in heaven. The audience is constantly left surprised, even right until the end, which makes its meaning much more beautiful as touches on the fragility and the preciousness of life. 

Analysis of Bouncer

Bouncer is a Channel 4 short film starring Ray Winstone. The opening music bed is foreboding and the question in the voiceover, “what do you see when you look into the face of a nightclub doorman?” immediately grabs the audience’s attention because it is addressed at them. By supporting it with the visual before switching back to the present day it allows us to understand the story, speaking from his own experiences. The questions directed at the audience, “Sound brave?” Refocus the audience’s attention. The short matter-of-fact statements make it more effective shocking for the audience because they are faced with the hard-hitting truth. It helps the story to move on quickly much unlike a commercial film, which has a slow start and that is we know John is dead already before we see it. The freeze frames are also unusual for a film because they remind the audience that they are watching a film, compared to a mainstream one, which tries to make it seamless so that they forget that. The lack of noise as ‘John’ walks to his car makes it so much more shocking when he dies even though we knew it was coming. The absence of sounds as they beat him and slow motion helps it sink in for the audience and the sudden ending adds to the idea that this just life.

Mud Boy - Nic Penrake

It deliberately gives a false opening, with opening credits and a music bed like a mainstream film does. The spade’s importance is noted straightaway in the film as it slowly tracks from a low level (the garden) up to the house. At various points throughout the short the camera keeps going back to a shot of the spade, which keeps it in the forefront our minds. The little girl Mina is introduced as the protagonist as the first human shot is of her playing on her Nintendo. She does not seem to be affected by her parents arguing around her; her focus is on her game, it is as though she no longer seems to note anything around her. As Mina runs through the garden the camera follows her and its movement makes the audience feel like they running, escaping with her. The high-angled shot looking into her garden makes her seem vulnerable and the non-diegetic music forebodes the discovery she makes. The director deliberately shoots the protagonist playing with her toys from a low level, helping the audience to enter the mind of a child as they watch her, and allows them to understand how she must feel at the end. 

Penrake does not conform to the conventional narrative when his protagonist finds the body. Her reaction to go and fill up the water instead or screaming for her mum, shock the audience as it is unexpected. This twist in straightforward plot, makes it seem more innovative and again gives the reader a surprising, but ambiguous ending. When she finds her brother, the lighting goes grey when they are together though it is bright; might signify that he will always be with her.

Camera Notes

·         Auto Lock: You cannot control the camera manually unless you specify

·         Hold: You have no control over any of the settings

·         Manual: You control the camera, unless you tell it to be auto

·         Gain: You tell the camera you want more light and it tries to give you more even though none exists. The higher the gain, the more the quality of the visual is affected and it becomes grainier.  The average gain should be 12db

·         Shutter Speed: Allows you to get more motion per second. A slow shutter speed uses less frames and is blurrier. When you use a higher shutter speed you need to have a lot of bright lighting.

·         White Balance: The indoor lighting is represented by a light-bulb and it is orange

A sun on the camera screen represents the outside lighting and it is blue.

To find a medium between the two lightings, the Custom (manual setting) is used. The camera needs to be focused of a white surface in between the two colours and the scroll wheel is used to set it.

·         Menu: Is used to change the camera settings 

·         Microphone: If you want a single audio source, the switch has to be up and the microphone has to be in Input 1. However, if you what two audio sources, the switch has to be down.

·         Status Check: It shows you everything that is happening with the camera and gives information about the shooting mode.

·         Focus: A hand or mountain range lets you know that you have control over the focus. To know whether you are in-focus, you have to zoom into something intricate, such as hair.

·         Push-Auto Focus: The focus is set manually and when the button is pressed, the camera focuses on what it thinks it should focus on. An example of its usage is in running shots, when the camera operator does not have a chance to change it manually.

·         Focus Pull: The focus ring is turned to focus on an object/person in front and the camera operator has to record the meter number, which is depicted next to the hand. Then turn the focus ring to focus on an object/person behind the first object/person and then record that meter number. Now the operator can flick slowly between the two readings, so that one object/person is in focus when the other is not.  This is normally used for dramatic effect during a conversation.

·         Exposure or Iris: It determines how much light the camera lets in through aperture. The smaller the aperture, the bigger the number, the gain is automatically increased and vice versa.