To begin my research, I will first need to understand what defines a short film.
A good area to start is to compare a short film to a feature length film. This will begin my research into the codes and conventions of a short film. Some of the key comparisons are:
Feature Film Short Film
100 minutes 10 minutes
High Budget Low Budget
Professional Amateur
Widely Distributed Rarely seen
Published via Cinema Published on the Internet
Large Casts Small casts
Vast Equipment Limited Equipment
Mass Audience Niche Audience
But are these comparisons an accurate way to define a short film?
With the short film category being extremely open, different people/organisations/directors define a short film differently.
Defined by Length?
One of the common ways to determine a short film, would be it's length. But how short is a short film?
• A short film can be any film that is less than a standard feature film (90-120 minutes)
• No consensus exists bounding a short film to be a certain length.
• However, a consensus is emerging within the industry, stating that a short should be no longer than 40 minutes.
• Films in the sub 5 minute category are considered to be a 'micro short'
Defined by Content?
• Short films might be considered as the literary equivalent of the poem or short story.
• The best short films, according to Gareth Evans, are 'crystalline creations of precise, prismatic intensity'.
• Good short films represent a refinement of ideas and distilled essences of their creators' imagination.
Defined by Form:
• As far as content is concerned, there is the same variety on offer as in longer length feature films.
• Can be fiction or non-fiction
• The flexibility of a short film is considered its greatest asset - it crosses the boundaries of all categories of film production.
• Can be any form - Advertising, documentary, music video, animation, avant grade film.
Defined as Vocational:
• Short films are often included on the showreel portfolios that are considered to be an apprenticeship for the professional filmmaking.
Sources:
Book: Teaching Short Films - Symon Quy
Thursday 27 June 2013
Wednesday 26 June 2013
My Chosen Production Brief
After looking over the production briefs, I have decided that I am going to be doing Production Brief 10:
A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with the following three options:
• A poster for the film;
• A film magazine review page featuring the film
I feel that by doing the short film brief, my skills will be pushed to their maximum and I feel that it will allow my learning to grow in many different areas. I also feel it will push my creative thinking in the sense that I will need a range of shots to help portray the meaning of my film, and it will push my abilities as to cutting together an extended piece of film.
A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with the following three options:
• A poster for the film;
• A film magazine review page featuring the film
I feel that by doing the short film brief, my skills will be pushed to their maximum and I feel that it will allow my learning to grow in many different areas. I also feel it will push my creative thinking in the sense that I will need a range of shots to help portray the meaning of my film, and it will push my abilities as to cutting together an extended piece of film.
Sunday 23 June 2013
Development of skills AS-A2
Digital Technology:
In AS Media, the was a fair amount of time spent improving my skills with different digital technologies. I had used a camera before, but had not used it to produce something as advanced as an opening. Also, I was fairly familiar with Adobe's video editing software, however, the AS task helped me understand the post production much more thoroughly. This has helped me to capture my ideas when producing a film as it has allowed for me to edit pieces of footage together in a certain way to help portray the meaning. It also allowed me to be creative in the sense that I could manipulate a piece of footage to either visually enhance the clip or add an effect on it to degrade the quality or make it look like it is darker than it actually is. There are many benefits of digital technologies, such as allowing you to remove parts of clip that may have been there by mistake and enhance clips to add extra meaning.
Creativity:
During my AS coursework, I had to be creative within my group to help come up with the plot of our story and then how we would bring the story to life with the different camera angles we would use. When creating our storyline, we were influenced by the darkness and creepiness of 'The Black Swan' and the edginess of 'Seven(Se7en)'. Again, technology helped us to create the opening we imagined, due to the fact that we were able to manipulate shots to make them darker and in effect make them look creepier, also we looked at the pace when editing the clips together as to how that could add to the intensity of the opening.
Research & Planning:
If we had not conducted any research into the thriller genre, our final outcome would have been very different. By looking at the codes and conventions of the genre, we were able to gain an understanding of the elements that needed to go into our film to make it a thriller. This then enabled us to look even further into the codes and conventions of a psychological thriller - isolating our film as a psychological thriller. Also when planning our opening, we looked into the audience, which again helped us understand which elements we would need to include in our film to make it suitable for the chosen audience.
Before making the film, we made numerous storyboards and animatics which helped bring our idea to life and give us a path to follow when it came to filming the footage. Also to help, we had a shot list which ensured that we had enough variety in our piece.
Post-Production:
The only part of our opening that was made entirely in post production was the title sequence. I used Adobe After Effects to create a set of titles that faded in through a smoke swirl. All of our footage was edited using Adobe Premiere Pro, helping us make clips darker, in effect, making the meaning of the opening darker. The music that we chose to play over our opening helped intensify the piece as the sharp pitch changes made the piece more edgy and tense. Also used was a recorded sound effect of a chair falling over, this extra bassy thud helped to over dramatise the hanging scene and made the chair fall with a real thud, something that the camera microphone could not portray.
Using Conventions from Real Media Texts:
We used media conventions in our opening to help the audience understand the genre of the film they are watching, and give them sense of familiarity with the film. I feel we used to conventions successfully as our film followed the conventions of a thriller, however, we borrowed conventions from horror which helped us to combine the two allowing us to create a psychological thriller.
In AS Media, the was a fair amount of time spent improving my skills with different digital technologies. I had used a camera before, but had not used it to produce something as advanced as an opening. Also, I was fairly familiar with Adobe's video editing software, however, the AS task helped me understand the post production much more thoroughly. This has helped me to capture my ideas when producing a film as it has allowed for me to edit pieces of footage together in a certain way to help portray the meaning. It also allowed me to be creative in the sense that I could manipulate a piece of footage to either visually enhance the clip or add an effect on it to degrade the quality or make it look like it is darker than it actually is. There are many benefits of digital technologies, such as allowing you to remove parts of clip that may have been there by mistake and enhance clips to add extra meaning.
Creativity:
During my AS coursework, I had to be creative within my group to help come up with the plot of our story and then how we would bring the story to life with the different camera angles we would use. When creating our storyline, we were influenced by the darkness and creepiness of 'The Black Swan' and the edginess of 'Seven(Se7en)'. Again, technology helped us to create the opening we imagined, due to the fact that we were able to manipulate shots to make them darker and in effect make them look creepier, also we looked at the pace when editing the clips together as to how that could add to the intensity of the opening.
Research & Planning:
If we had not conducted any research into the thriller genre, our final outcome would have been very different. By looking at the codes and conventions of the genre, we were able to gain an understanding of the elements that needed to go into our film to make it a thriller. This then enabled us to look even further into the codes and conventions of a psychological thriller - isolating our film as a psychological thriller. Also when planning our opening, we looked into the audience, which again helped us understand which elements we would need to include in our film to make it suitable for the chosen audience.
Before making the film, we made numerous storyboards and animatics which helped bring our idea to life and give us a path to follow when it came to filming the footage. Also to help, we had a shot list which ensured that we had enough variety in our piece.
Post-Production:
The only part of our opening that was made entirely in post production was the title sequence. I used Adobe After Effects to create a set of titles that faded in through a smoke swirl. All of our footage was edited using Adobe Premiere Pro, helping us make clips darker, in effect, making the meaning of the opening darker. The music that we chose to play over our opening helped intensify the piece as the sharp pitch changes made the piece more edgy and tense. Also used was a recorded sound effect of a chair falling over, this extra bassy thud helped to over dramatise the hanging scene and made the chair fall with a real thud, something that the camera microphone could not portray.
Using Conventions from Real Media Texts:
We used media conventions in our opening to help the audience understand the genre of the film they are watching, and give them sense of familiarity with the film. I feel we used to conventions successfully as our film followed the conventions of a thriller, however, we borrowed conventions from horror which helped us to combine the two allowing us to create a psychological thriller.
Wednesday 19 June 2013
The Production Briefs
Brief 1:
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with:
• A cover for its as a part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)
Brief 2:
An advertising package for a new product or service, to include two TV Advertisements, together with:
• A TV programme sponsorship sequence
• A radio advertisement
Brief 10:
A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with the following three options:
• A poster for the film;
• A film magazine review page featuring the film
A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with:
• A cover for its as a part of a digipak (CD/DVD package)
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)
Brief 2:
An advertising package for a new product or service, to include two TV Advertisements, together with:
• A TV programme sponsorship sequence
• A radio advertisement
Brief 10:
A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with the following three options:
• A poster for the film;
• A film magazine review page featuring the film
Monday 17 June 2013
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