Film Openings : Existing Short Films...

For our advanced production we have the task of taking our knowledge gained during out foundation production, to help us develop a five minute short film, that includes a beginning, middle and end whilst as for our foundation production we only had to construct the opening and develop in thoughts and ideas the rest of the plot within the advanced production we have to produce all three aspects. Therefore similar to how I researched existing film openings (example = Juno and Se7en), I have also been analysing existing short films which have been developed by a range of film makers (www.virginmediashots.co.uk), I decided to analyse the a short film's from the latest top ten choices for this week and put my own thoughts and ideas of the films across:

Basic Dave buys a phone

Firstly the idea, is simple but affective I personally think. We have all experienced the process of buying a phone, and as a younger generation watched the painful process of our parents go through the trauma of spending hours trying to work out how to take a single picture on a phone, therefore the idea is one that we can all relate to so appeals to the audience. The film also has strength as by using a natural setting of a city street, natural lighting can be used therefore there is no issue with bad artificial low budget lighting, however the digentic background noise to the piece is times is louder than the actual digetic dialogue this is one area which would benefit from being focused on in post-production in my own opinion. The repetition of the term 'basic' I personally thinks adds to the comical value, as the audience finds it humorous that he cannot cope with a phone that slides up, or has a camera - the idea of such a simple basic character is funny to the viewer. The film is only 2 and half minutes long, which I personally think again is another strength to it as if it was any longer it could become over repetitive and lose the interest of the audience.

Origami birds

I chose to focus on this film, as firstly it is completely different to 'basic Dave buys a phone' also I personally think that it is an original idea, which steers away from the typical trends and themes that are present in many short films. I think it demonstrates how in order to create an effective simple film, there must be high production value and I personally think the stop go animation especially shows a talented use of post-production computer effects. I think the use of low lightening at the end creates a sense of fantasy which compliments the birds. However in my own opinion I think the weakest part to the film is the sound, I find the non-diegentic music after a while repetitive, and find it a bit to hard and modern for the fantasy, magical effect created by the birds and lightening at the end especially.

Said Susan

So my third and final short film that I reviewed was 'Said Susan' I chose this one as I personally think it shows a cleaver basic idea as it has a twist to it. Firstly the actress used for the main character I think adds to the strength of the film, as her voice is irritating and grates on the audience, therefore adding a humours factor as what she is actually discussing is how much Darren annoys her, however also the casting of Darren shows a character who is dressed in a dull suit therefore giving the impression of a dull, boring character to the audience straight away informing the audience of the characters status and personality which I think is a strength in a short film as it keeps the movement snappy and interesting. I also think how it plays around with the convention of sound and dialogue adds to the uniqueness and therefore strengths the film. The film is only 2 minutes 20 seconds long, which means that the effect created is not lost, as the film does not feel repetitive, also by adding an endings which was unexpected means that the audience's attention was kept captured until the end.

Similarities and Differences Between The Films

 

Firstly a comparison can be made between the genre of the films, both 'Basic Dave buys a phone' and 'Said Susan' are comedy, which complies to the typical genre of short films however 'Origami birds' has documentary genre, it is based on a group of people recreating a tree full of birds in order for the public to see and admire, however similar to another trend seen within short films it uses stop motion, it order to project the process from making one bird, to making a number, to places them on the tree, to the general public admiring them. Therefore 'Origami birds' takes on a linear narrative, as we see the creation of the birds - placing the birds on tree - people admiring the birds, this is similar to 'Said Susan' which follows a linear narrative of Susan's morning routine. In terms of characters this again portrays another similarity between 'Basic Dave buys a phone' and 'Said Susan', both of the protagonist's are "normal", they do not demonstrate any special qualities or traits, therefore are believable characters which is one of the key criteria to creating a character. This is another contrast between the two comedy shorts and the documentary short as, within 'Origami birds' there is no emphasis on the characters, rather the birds are seen as the characters to the film. A further contrast is that 'Origami Birds' only uses non-diegentic sound, whilst as 'Said Susan' and 'Basic Dave buys a phone' uses diegentic sound.