Initial Research - Jenny

Here is some initial research about short films which I have found online. 

Waving At Cars, David Beauchamp, 2008 

Camera Work 


 
* The depth of field at the beginning is very interesting because everything is out of focus so there is nothing the audience can relate to. However, when we see our main characters the depth of field turns into a wide depth of field, this then gives the audience realization of who we should be focusing on.  




* When the camera is out of focus most of the shots are when the camera is placed on the floor so all we can see is peoples feet and moving trolleys, and peoples shopping, which however, gives us the sense of where we are in location wise despite the fact there are no establishing shots.

* We realize there is a problem with the couple when there is a close up of his hand grasping her to the trolley so she can't escape, you can really see the strength he is putting into it.




* There are lots of medium close ups so we can see the aggression he has towards her, and how he makes her cower, and the emotion shown on each of their faces, you can see the anger in his eyes.

* One shot I liked and would like to use in our short film is when he closes the fridge/freezer door and we see both his and hers reflection. You can see his aggression about her looking around and he says about her not to make eye contact with anyone in case they realize what situation she is in.

* A good use of camera movement is when the camera tracks them down what seems to be the bathroom isles with towels on the side of the shot. The camera tracks their movement, I'm hoping I could use this in my short film because it is very still and because it being a medium close up you focus on their facial expressions and not the movement of their legs. 

Editing


* A good transition is used right at the beginning when they show all the out of focus shots dissolving into each other which shows that each one is related to each other. The dissolve transition is very rarely seen and so it was good to see it being used and what made particularly better was that each shot worked with each other. Making the transition smooth. 


* There is a use of time manipulation I believe when the Tory (main female character) sees a young child, the focus on this child seems to move in slow motion there seems to be some kind of connection with her and this child, whether she reminds her of herself when she was young or the fact that its just something that the fact that this child's mum has her hand pressed up against the trolley just liked Isaak (main male character) did to Tory.



Mise en Scene

* There is a shot of a sign amongst the flowers saying " Treat someone special..." which I felt was irony considering her situation when she goes over to smell the flowers. Why? Because it seems as though he would never think about getting her flowers and he treats her badly as well.

* Her body language is her timid and she seems very shy. She trys to look around the shop but is looked upon by Isaak as it is the wrong thing to do and if she was to do it again she would get hurt. She has her head down most of the time and is seen fiddling with her hands as if it was some nervous disorder, she also, always seems terrified of Isaak and doesn't do anything that would make him want to hurt her.


* The setting is quite strange not many people chose to film in a supermarket. Normally when people see you with a camera you get many questions asked and people ruining the shot in the background. The fact that the film is shot here makes it more interesting that they got it to work. And the fact that no one interfered with their work.



Sound

*The beginning is interesting using diegetic sound over the top and a sound bridge is used to link all the images together. Having normal shopping sounds, like tills bleeping, the movement of rattling trolleys, the speaker announcement, talking the normal sounds you would hear when food shopping which gives a good sense of realism.

* The dialogue used between them is very aggressive "will you hurt me?" "I haven't decided yet". He has a very aggressive tone towards her and has a dominant role over her and knows that she will do anything he asks and he knows she will never leave him.

* The is a good use of sound when the little girl appears, when time seems to slow down everything goes silent, this could mean there is a connection with her and the little girl. Silence really builds and atmosphere and I believe that it is one of the best sound techniques you can use.

*Parallel sound is used when she is looking for the shopping list but can't not find it, at this time an alarm goes off which also, could mean that his anger grows for her and it seems as though he is about to hurt her if it wasn't for the little girl.




The structure of this film I believe is very good, the way it has been put together and by the end of it the audience really sympathizes with the character. In this six minute film that is very hard to do. It has many issues in it but mainly it is about domestic abuse and the relationship they have for at the end when she had a chance to leave him she runs after him and kisses him on the cheek. I think audience's can really relate to this film seeing as domestic abuse is an everyday thing and this emphasizes the sense of realism.

I found this film on the website BBC Film Network. It is easily accessed and can be found by anyone who wants to watch it. I think the target audience for this film however, is for 18 and above, defiantly and older audience.   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004pvxg






The Archivist, James Lees, 2008

Camera Work

* The shots at the beginning are all high angles establishing the location and showing us the main character. However, we still don't know his name what he is carrying and why we are here. Although the synopsis mention it is about "Love and how not to lose it." Relating this to relationships.

* I liked the close up of the damaged stair case there is no camera movement but it shows us more information about the location. I like the depth of field as well although its wide depth of field we still focus on the shaking piece of wood. I would like to use something like this in my short film, I like the idea of certain objects close up, and making the audience concentrate on these things and take that piece of information in.


* I liked the straight cuts from one object in the room to another all medium close ups and close ups shows that each one has a certain importance in this film.





* The shots of what seem to be the flashback are all taken with their reflection in a mirror. This is the first time we also, see our other character, it is a long shot so we can see their bond together and it allows the audience to realise that they are a couple.





* The medium close up of them in a shop I liked very much, the jewelry is hung in such a way that it looks like she is wearing it, when in fact she isn't but this is because of the camera shot size and angle, I would like to use this shot in my short film.



* Another good shot is when they are traveling on  a train and the camera seems as though it has been placed outside of it for it is looking through the window at them, this medium long shot is very clever in the way it has been shot. The camera movement seems static but it makes you wonder because the trains seems as though it is moving.



* The change in field is very clever the way it has been done making the audience focus on one thing and then another this has been done quite a bit throughout the short film. It is a very clever technique and because its smooth it doesn't hurt the eyes.

* After every item that gets vacuum packed we see an extreme close up of these objects, the strangest item he vacuum packed would have to have been the cat and then his girlfriend herself. The interesting camera size really picks out the certain details in some of the objects having a long shot of each one I believe wouldn't have the same effect upon the audience.



Editing


* The titles are very clever because they fit in with the theme of the film. They start off normal and then are squashed down as if they were being vacuum packed.  I like these titles because it gives a clue as to what the film could be about and then obviously if you have seen the film you will see that it ties in with the theme of the film. 

* The straight cuts from one object to the next are quite quick going from one to the next showing that each one has a certain importance.








Mise en Scene


* The colour/ lighting in the flashbacks to the present have a major difference. The present time is very gray and saturated, whereas in the flashbacks, they are full of colour and have high key lighting. I believe this could be representing their emotions because as the flashbacks go on the lighting and colour become duller and the emotion they portrayed in the flashback showed that her feelings got less and less for him. 

* There are many, many props used. They all have their own importance and have a relevance to the film. We know this because when looking at them we see a flashback of why they are important and in this case it is because his girlfriend had either touched them or been with him at the time. He numbers everything single prop after they have been vacuum packed, there is a long shot when you see all of these items have been numbered and vacuum packed.

Sound


* The titles when they get shrunk down you hear a very faint noise like they being sucked in. It is very quiet but it really works with the theme again. This is a very clever technique and I would like to use it in my film.


* There is a sound bridge when there is the first flashback, he reaches for the doll and it sounds like it begins to laugh but however, it leads us into the first flashback when they are laughing and they are mucking around on the bed. The connection with the doll is when she grabs it to make room and throws it off the bed. Its almost now like when he reaches for the doll is laughing at him for loosing his girlfriend.


* There is a real emphasis on the vacuum noise when he turns it on, it is very clear, whether that's to make the audience understand more what he is doing, I don't know? The one at the end when the screen goes black there is a very predominate one where he finally vacuum packs his girlfriend.





The structure of this film is very clever, the way its been constructed and how it really connects with its synopsis. The audience for this would be quite a young audience dealing with love although the film is quite psychopathic it has a good sense of comedy in it. This is very hard to achieve but James Lees has managed to do this.  Again I found this film on the BBC film network website which is very easy to access.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004pvn9




The end of the Line, Max Pugh, 2005 




Camera work


* The first shot I liked was the fact that it wasn't shot through just a camera it seems as though they have recorded watching through at security camera to see who is arriving at the station at the time. I like this idea of filming, it is also, something I am doing in my film project.




* I like the camera movement how it tracks and pans our main characters, I think this is because the audience can then make a distinction about who is our main character.

* The close ups of her face whilst on the train and her panic attack is being to kick in I liked the fact that audience can see this because the close up shows the emotion on her face and then straight cut to a close up of the peoples faces around her to see their emotions towards her.



* The depth of field is always wide which I like but because of the composition in the frame  the audience focus on what they like there is no restriction.





* I like the use from how it has gone from close ups to long shots at the very end its a good contrast and adds some variety.








* The good use of the long shots of the woman when she thinks in her mind she is walking towards the sea and then the close of the mans face when all he sees is her walking towards the other platform is very interesting because it almost confuses the audience but then we see that she has a mental condition and then she finally jumps onto the train line when she believes she has just jumped into the sea. 



Editing

*The very first shot we see coming out of the transition of a fade the quality of the image is slightly blurred or made to look like something to do with her eye sight, I think this was done on purpose so that the audience can adjust with maybe what is about to happen or that the film is slowly revealing our establishing shot.



*When the lights are put across her face this was very interesting because of her condition the lights in the tunnel are bothering her and this I think allows the audience to connect with this, and they sympathise more with her.



*There is a slow motion shot of the post card falling down after it has fallen out of her bag. It showed the importance of the card because the destination she is trying to get to is the picture of the beach on the front of it.






Mise en Scene

*We realise that the woman carries a number of bags but later on we see what is in them. These props are very important because they are associated with the beach which is where she is heading. And when she looses these items it is shown in slow motion so the audience can really focus on what is coming out of her bags.


*The colour changes are very interesting because at the beginning the audience are meant to believe that it has been filmed in black and white however, at the end when the women thinks she is at the beach everything turns into colour I think this is because it is highlighting the one thing that makes her happy, and this also, happens when the postcard is shown and also, when the billboard has a large picture of the beach this is shown as colour.

Sound

*At the begining there is a continues soundtrack introducing us into the short film. It is very slow and quite depressing music setting the audience up for something that is going to be upseting and this is not going to have the classic happy ending.

*There is a good use of foley sounds for example the the security camera noises, the rustly of papers and his foot steps as he runs down the stairs. Everything is in time and doesn't seem out of place.

*The dialouge the old women speaks allows the audience to know there is something wrong with her. She mumbles under her breath and makes no sense when she talks.

This short film has a beginning, middle and end it is a completed short film and has not got an unknown ending. It is quite emotional although it is only 6 minutes and 51 seconds long the audience really connects with the main character and also, the other male character. I believe this is because the audience can tell there is something wrong with her and the fact that she thinks she has finally made it to the beach but then jumps onto the train line instead, but then we are taken to the woman's memory of her at the beach kind of makes the short film have a happy/sad ending.

I found this film on BBC short films.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p0059r2r



Mixtape, Luke Snellin,

Camera Work

* There is an extreme close up of the tape rewinding itself basically introducing the film straight away it matches the film title and is also, the main prop in the film along with the main characters because if it wasn't for the mixtape they wouldn't be connected.

* The close up of the writing of the label for the mixtape I thought was very good use of camera work, it allows for the film title to be seen and the director of the film. I think we should have used something like this in our film however, I think because ours was a period drama it may not have fit as well as it did in this film.

* The long shot shows the distance that he has to walk to deliver the mixtape in this case it was only to next door. This made me think of another genre for the film and this being a comedy also, it shows the connection with the characters as how they know each other and its not some random girl where he has to walk miles to meet her.

* The birds eye view of the girl singing I think worked really well especially when she looks at the camera while she is singing, its almost like she is trying to connect with the audience. I like the fact that it is also, a close up of the character so we can see her emotion towards the tape and the fact that she is enjoying it.

* The movement when they are both dancing is very slow and he has decided to have a low angle upon the girl in the film. I think this worked really well because the audience can see the connection between the two characters.






Mise en Scene

* The tape is the first prop to be used which again connects with the title and is the main prop through out the film. There is always a reference to it through the film which is good because the audience can never forget about it and realise that it is one of the most important things in the film.

* The location is very interesting the fact that its not in the middle of nowhere but in fact it seems like its in Brighton just between two houses. I like this because the normal short film they would try and find a desolate location to maybe make their film look more high profile, this technique however, is something we have used.

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