Short films are made to put a point across in a short space of time, to make people aware of the many different lifestyles all around us, that we are not aware of. They are also as a calling card for up and coming directors. They’re cheap compared to feature length films. They are used by the directors and producers to make a name for themselves and expand their businesses, whilst limiting expenditure.
Short films are usually targeted at film connoisseurs and budding directors alike. They are also targeted at producers, aiming for a sponsorship and the chance to make their way into the film industry.
Short films are usually exhibited at festivals, such as the Edinburgh film festival and the Sundance. For new directors these are the corner stones of making a name for themselves in the industry. Film festivals such as these are a haven for film connoisseurs, new directors and producers looking for fresh creativity. This is the niche target audience of short films, making festivals a perfect aid in reaching their target.
Funding is mainly based in the funding of the team behind the production, or from other resources such as lottery funded programmes for new independent films. For example wasp was funded by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund. But obtaining funding can sometimes be difficult, only films that have the potential are usually accepted into the programme.
Another problem is the limited resources in locations for film sets, large companies use the studios and they have plenty of space, short films are limited to whatever they have at hand e.g. the directors house.
Editing software can be obtained relatively easily, but quality editing systems cost a lot of money, so maybe only mediocre software can be obtained.
Help, whether it comes in the form of funding or just a place to film, is usually given to up and coming movies by government/lottery funded organisations (the UK Film Council), or industries and production companies that can afford the loss, and think that this film can make it, backing them in funding and resources. Providing editing software, cameras and equipment and locations for filming. This can give the directors a serious opportunity of making it big.
Analysis of Short Films
we looked at a range of short films, and compared the codes and conventions of the different genres of short films. we did this to further our understanding of how a short film works, its life cycle and the reason why they are made.
Wasp
Analysis:
Wasp is about a single lower class mother with 4 kids, and lives on a council estate.
It opens with a scene of the other walking down the road in her nightie and no shoes on. She’s carrying a baby under her arm, who’s not wearing a nappy, just a top. This gives us the impression that she has not got any money.
Her other 3 kids are following her down the road. The mother is taking them to a fight, which she then does right in-front of them. The fight is over the other women hitting her daughter, this shows that she does care about her kids, but not always in the right way, this is expressed throughout the film.
After this she arranges a date with an old flame, denying that those are her children and that she is only looking after them.
At home she is negligent of the children, ignoring them.
The baby drops his/her dummy, which she then picks up and, without cleaning it, dips it in some sugar and puts it in the babies mouth, she then gives the sugar to the other 3 to eat as a meal, also portraying the poverty of the family.
There are lots of images of cars where the children are concerned, to emphasise the danger she leaves the kids in.
A lot of the camera work is fast paced, with short cuts, to show a hectic lifestyle.
The film has a quite natural look at the world, with plenty of grit, its not sugar coated.
The mother, Zoë, then takes the kids to the pub, and leaves them outside, while she meets with the guy. Lots of shots of cars in the scenes with the kids.
Zoë then comes out of the pub and gets the girls to walk home by themselves, this was at night so you can really see the neglect.
The kids eat the remains of a kebab, which then attracts the “wasp” into the baby’s mouth.
Zoë, who at that time was about to have sex with the guy, Dave, came rushing to their aid, showing that she does care in some ways.
The overall aim of the film was a gritty look at the lower class society of Britain. Showing the struggle of a single mother, and the kids trying to fend for themselves, growing up way to fast. Andrea Arnold really captures this aspect of society, which happens everyday, but just isn’t noticed.
Budget:
The budget of £53,250 was awarded by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund, which is funded by the national lottery, and supports independent movies, giving them a chance to make it somewhere
Festival history:
‘Wasp’ was shown in several international festivals.
Premiering at the Edinburgh film festival, attracting the interest of Denmark’s Zentropa and Scotland’s Sigma Films.
‘Wasp’ won 36 awards, and an Oscar, after enormous critical success.
Promotion:
Her main promotion came from festivals and critique from revues.
She showed wasp to audiences at festivals for budding directors.
Limited advertisement, no posters or advertisements.
we have found that all the short films were created to put across a point or a message to the audience. we have discovered the greater meaning behind short films, we reached this point by comparing the short films and their codes and conventions.
this understanding has furthered our knowledge of film creation and we will use most of this information for our own preduction.
Analysis of Film Posters
To further our understanding of the conventions of films, we analysed the posters and postcards used for the publicity of the film. we compared and contrasted several film posters and marketing campaign's.
most of the film posters we have looked at, consist of very few words as not to lose the audience interest. they are kept short and snappy, eye catching and interesting as to attract the target audience to them. the colours are important in most film poster's, they are part of the initial attraction stage in the marketing campaign.
the main part of the film posters, is the picture. they are of a main or main characters in a scene unrelated to the film or of an important symbol of the film which carries a meaning.
for example the this is england poster had a picture of the full cast, standing by a wall, this is not in the film but is used as an important part of the campaign, possibly making it look like a police line up, the usual suspects if you may. this can show the stereotyping of teen's, the contrast between the heights of the others compared to the kid. the picture also shows the range of age, sex and race, showing social diversity. the colours are drab and grubby around the main characters, but the sky is bright and blue, simbolysing the opportunity that they are not grasping.
sunshine cleaning is the most similar genre to our production, because of this we may use a similar style in our marketing campaign. It looks at a brighter side of the business, by using bright blue colours in the background and the 2 main characters carrying the title, this is an interesting effect.
the kenny poster is used to over glamourise the 'dirty' life that kenny endures. It shows how he's happy at what he does, and he dosn't care what people think of it.
the rose in the toilet paper is a complete contrast to the postetr and bares no meaning to the film.
as our short film shares a similar genre, as well as sunshine cleaning, a hard working cleaner that does it for his family and just gets on with the job. it may be sensible to follow the style of this poster, and maybe mix it up with a poster with a more of a 'morbid' feel.
Analysis of Film Reviews
we analysed the reviews of short films, to gain critique understanding. this helps us to understand how a film is reviewed so we can do it to our own production.
from this we can gain the understanding of the audience and are not just looking at our production from our creation point of view, critique can be used not just to comment on the bad parts of the film, but are also used to better our film as creators tend to overlook the weak point of the film as they are close minded.
An Education
First thing they do is give the film a film context, background info. Previous work mentioned.
Next they compare to films of a similar genre, film heritage.
The third is building on the context of the actual film, rather than of the genre and background. Info like the date it’s meant to have been set and the age of the girl. Describing in brief; the main characters of the film, lifestyles and age. It’s the start of the synopsis.
The forth compares and explains some of the directors previous films. Comparing the peer reviews with past work. Then goes on to briefly describe the style that the director puts into each of her films, and the “directional style”.
The next is the main description of the main character, linking it to the mise-en-scene and the scenes. Mentioning the schizophrenia at the beginning of the paragraph, and then showing a contrast between the scenes and her “transformation”, this is used as a tool to comment on the character and compare her to the varying scenes.
The review then continues by commenting on films of a similar style/genre. But then says how An Education is unlike others in this genre. It comments on how well made it is, and how well thought out all aspects of the film were, focusing on how dialogue visual codes work together to anchor the drama and emotion in each scene.
Then describes the characters and plot. Commenting on the tale itself, a link between the film and British culture, key ideas and how they are handled, the performance of the actors, the characters traits. Then critiques the closure of the film. Then compares the heroin from Juno with Jenny from An Education.
Sunshine Cleaning
the film review of "Sunshine cleaning" is set out much the same way as the sight and sound review of "An education". in the sence that it is laid out in sections of describing the charatcers, commenting on the plot, discusing the actors' and the director's ineptitude.
however this review uses a lot of short, snappy sentences, such as "Does he get tired of playing this part? ".
the writer of this review also attepts to use humour by using homonyms, like in the paragraph where he describes the role of the crime scene cleaners.
'Crime scene clean-up is a "growth industry" – or did they say gross industry?', this is a technique that many review writers use, too keep the audiences attention, and to feign intelligence, by demonstrating the fact that he can use words that sound like other words to "create" humour.
the writer weaves in describtions of some of the scenes with the plot and the abilities of the actors, criticising them with a dressed up humour.
Advanced Production Techniques
Job Roles
After a group discussion, we decided to separate the work into job roles, so that all aspects of the production are carefully monitored.
These Job Roles are:
Director- in charge of actors and performance, the script is one of the directors most important tasks.
Cameraman- working closely with the sound and lighting department, in charge of shots and angles, deciding the most important shots and working with the Mise-en-Scene director with setting the scene to make each shot effective. Produces the shot list and storyboards.
Mise-en-Scene- in charge of hair and makeup set design and location. Works closely with the lighting, setting the scene. Also working with director and cameraman.
Lighting & Sound- controls sound levels, works closely with the camera man to set the lighting, set a mood for the scene. They are also in charge of the music for the production.
Cameraman
The cameraman’s main roles vary due to the part of department they are in. In this case the role of cameraman includes the roles of Director of photography, camera operator and 1st/2nd assistant.
My tasks in this role include;
Deciding on camera placement for each shot. Including angle and location.
Produces shot list’s, shooting schedule and a story board. Working closely with the Director.
Decides on final shots with the Director.
Making sure the camera is loaded with film, unloading the film when finished, making sure the right lenses are used.
Working with the lighting and sound director, obtain the right atmosphere and composition to create high quality shots with cinematic style.
Working with the director, so that all character movement is set within the frames and fits with the story board.
Working with the Mise-en-Scene so that the set location works with the lighting and composition.
The cameraman has one of the most challenging roles as they work with delicate equipment that needs to be adjusted for every shot; Focus, lighting and framing is important for every scene, and for each shot and scene these all change and vary. These must be accounted for in every shot so that high quality filming is produced, without being able to see the seams.
Creating the story board and shot list’s are vital for the production of the film.
The skills required by the Camera department are:
artistic vision;
creativity and precise attention to detail;
good colour vision;
ability to give and to accept direction;
excellent communication skills;
diplomacy and tact when working with cast and crew;
knowledge of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures.
a good sense of visual composition, perspective and movement
physical co-ordination and strength
ability to combine creativity with technical skills
precise attention to detail
effective communication skills
ability to collaborate, and to work as part of a team
good eyesight and the ability to accurately judge distances;
agility and speed
All of these skills are essential in covering all aspects of the camera department.
Pre-Production Documentation
Marketing Material Planning
* Poster
* Review
Production Report
Post Production Report
Evaluation
