So here is my final finished A2 media studies piece, and after many many many hours of researching, planning, constructing, editing and evaluating, I can finally say that I have come to the end of my A-level production work for me media studies. I have grown in my skill and confidence behind the camera, and along the way gained a real passion for media studies and feel that now looking back all the hard work which at times went long into the was worth every minute, and I am proud when looking at the development of my skill from that first lesson whereby I had not even touched a video camera before!
My Five Minute Short Film : 'Moments'...
So here is my final finished A2 media studies piece, and after many many many hours of researching, planning, constructing, editing and evaluating, I can finally say that I have come to the end of my A-level production work for me media studies. I have grown in my skill and confidence behind the camera, and along the way gained a real passion for media studies and feel that now looking back all the hard work which at times went long into the was worth every minute, and I am proud when looking at the development of my skill from that first lesson whereby I had not even touched a video camera before!
Evaluation Question Four : In What Way Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Porducts?
KEY TERMS
Forms : The general system of relationships among the parts of a film creating a sense of order within a variety of texts. David Bordwell defined a form as the "the overall system of relation that we perceive among elements in the whole film"Conventions : Widely used common traits that are used across film an an art form. Conventions exist across all media platforms, however differ between products depending on the content, purpose and audience in order to allow for the audience to identify with the product (in terms of film the conventions can tell the audience what to expect in the film they are about to watch or inform the audience of the genre of the given film)
I have found that working within the short film as an art form, has allowed me to draw upon the experimental work of influential directors and in turn has given me the confidence to challenge the forms and conventions associated with short film within my A2 production 'Moments'. My work has been greatly inspired by the work of directors such as the Cohen Brothers, Quentin Taratino and Akira Kurosawa, who have openly demonstrated the willingness to experiment and exploit the universal themes. For example as a extremist Kurosawa, made elements such as light in 'Rashomon' the most dazzling, he also demonstrated his wiliness to experiment by begin the first to shoot light sources directly, especially into the sun and to show the diaphragm of the lens. Therefore although it is necessary to research, understand and abide by some of the conventions in order to produce a valid short film, such as it being under a certain length of time, I was also interested in demonstrating a willingness to experiment and in turn challenge some of the establish conventions, such as incorporating longer take shots. 
When researching into the conventions of existing media texts, I found a key convention is the short length of time. The time classification for any short is that it must be less than 40 minutes long (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science defined a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less including credits"), however why analysing existing short films via sites such as Vimeo, BBC Film Networks and Virgin Media Shorts I found that the average time length was between 5 to 10 minutes. These specific films are branded as 'micro shorts', and therefore the very short time period of my 5 minute short is a development and could be stated to be testing the conventions of the original short film form, for example Ken Russell's early amateur short 'Ameila and the Angel' (1958) running time was 26 minutes and even compared to the modern era a 5 minute short is seen as extremely short, for example compared to 'The Gruffalo' which is a 27 minute British short animated film produced in 2009. As Gareth Evans stated "a short film needs to indicate more than is possible to be screened in their limited time", and by creating a micro-short I had a very small time window to communicate the story and this contributed to my creative decision to create a silent film whereby the plot can be indicated to the audience through the visual imagery, which enabled me to tell the whole story in a limited amount of time and actually when reviewing my piece I feel that if the running time for 'Moments' was much longer than it would be harder to ensure that the audience's attention is captured throughout.
Due to the short time scale, as Catherine Des Forges stated a short film is "...well structured work which draws in the audience quickly", and therefore each take tends to be no more than 3 seconds long in order to allow for the whole story be told whilst ensuring that the audience is drawn into the plot and connects with the audience. However controversially silent films, whereby the dialogue is transmitted through the visual imagery, is a much slower pace with longer takes and therefore by creating a silent short film I have challenged the conventional form of short takes, drawing on the idea of the slow film movement with each take being between 3 to 9 seconds, which is more similar to a European than Hollywood style. This creative decision was also greatly inspired by the work of both Kurosawa and the Cohen Brothers. For example the long take of the woodcutters walk within 'Rashomon' does not in itself advance the plot but is essential for the experience of the film.
This slow pace is also present within the Cohen Brothers production of 'Fargo', with the inclusion of home scenes which would conventionally be cut out within post-production editing of a crime drama, such as that of Marge and Norm simply chatting in bed for 1 1/2 minutes.
In order to ensure that the audience connect with the characters in a short period of time, a trait of a short film is just to feature the minimal cast with the least amount of characters. For example the two potential BBC Film Network films of which we could of recreate for a classroom task (either 'My Beast Friend' or 'Get Off My Land') both only featured three characters. This is one convention that I have compelled to within my own production as within my own piece, there is only two characters (Jenny Harper who is the main protagonist character and Liam Wood who is the secondary character). The reason why I chose to use this convention, is because within my film I felt that it was important that the audience felt drawn into the plot story, and this I tried to do by ensuring that they built a connection with the main character. Short films tend to have a low budget, as most short film directors are independent it means that they lack the finical backing or sponsor, for example 'My Beast Friend' had an estimated budget of just £1,000. In order to sustain this small budget, short films commonly have few actors and/or only one or two central film locations, for example within 'The Black Hole' (2008), the film focuses on one male office worker and the entire film is set within the office whereas within the short film 'Time' although there is many minor and a few main characters present within the film it only set within the location of the cafe.
Similar to many of the independent short filmmakers, I too had a limited budget however I chose to challenge the convention of using an easily accessible location by choosing to film within London and therefore this did mean that my budget was increased with the travel expenditure, however I was interested in creating a piece that was unique to my peers and also it was central to have an individual city worker as my protagonist character, so it was crucial that I filmed within a busy business orientated city, however within London I chose locations that were close to each other either within walking distance or a small journey on the tube so therefore saved money and time when it came to travelling between filming locations. Although I conformed to the convention of having a small cast as my short film consisted of only two characters, I did challenge the convention of a low budget film by having a variety of different locations :
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| Hannahs flat, Outside street and door, Mile End tube station, Bethnal green tube station, Tredger square, Westminster bridge |
A short film can be defined by its content which conventionally is the effective realisation of one particular idea, the idea or situation itself remains fairly true and realistic in order to make it relatable, however the initial subject matter develops it own twist and original interesting aspect. The content of a short film can be liked to Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium, it first starts with an equilibrium, which is a calm period where everything is normal, then a disequilibrium occurs which is where a problem arises so is a period of unsettlement, this is followed by a new equilibrium whereby the problem is solved and everything returns to normal however a change is noticeable. Within my own film, I would say that aspects of the plot line can be linked to this basic theory of narrative :- Stage One : Equilibrium = Jenny's everyday routine, living life in motion, letting moments slip her by, not taking a step out of her own shoes to walk in anothers {Period of calm}
- Stage Two : Disequilibrium = Jenny's life is disrupted by missing her train and discovering anothers shoes, she discovers life in anothers shoes, and eyes are open to the moments of which were simply slipping her by {Period of unsettlement}
- Stage Three : New Equilibrium = Jenny walks away from the man leaving the shoes, everything returns to normal however her priority's and her life focus has changed {Period of new calm}
Overall I feel that I have demonstrated my progression as a film maker within my experimental approach to the short film form. I have drawn upon the conventions of a short film and demonstrated a willingness to develop as well as challenge these forms by creating a 'micro-short' silent film, that incorporates long takes within a tight time scale, whilst still ensuring that I use some of the conventions which ensure that I have produced a valid short film. Short film I feel is a genre in itself, and this has allowed me to demonstrate a freedom of expression and allow for me draw upon a simple idea of shoes and produce an original, creative visual piece.
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