Production Diary #5

I can begin to see the blog taking a dent now! It's a good type of dent in a sense of the blog is looking good and a lot of work has been done and it's starting to look like a student blog, I guess I could have said the blogger is starting to form? I have really begun to put a lot of work in so for the next few days I deserve a little break and in that time I am hoping to design the blog as it seems a bit dull and defualt like, I want it to look like a professional student created it. Here is a sample image that I found on google however as the banner is very wide I cropped it and made it so the camera cut off and wasn't full in the frame. I wanted my banner to respresent the area which I chose to take my coursework which was Short Films. I was also thinking about adding a box with information in it such as my name,etc - like last years blog.

Research into a directors

Upcoming Director

A film director is a person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, and visualizes the script while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision

Director Examples

Matthew Bate is an upcoming director who has created films such as The Mystery of the Flying Kicks"& Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure. He has been nominated for multiple awards from multiple film festivals. I felt that this up and coming director stood out to me, his work really impacted my thoughts on short films.

Albert Lamorisse was a french filmmaker, film producer and writer, who is best known for his award winning short films which he began making in the late 1940s. One of his works which really grabbed my attention was "The Red Balloon" The thirty-four minute short, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris. It won numerous awards, including an Oscar for Lamorisse for writing the best original screenplay in 1956 and the Palme d'Or for short films at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. The film also became popular with children and educators. This is the only short film to win the Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay).

Production Diary #4

I really felt that my last post had to be indepth, not only because it illustrates I put the effort into my research but also if I am actually going to do research I should put 100% effort in each post and really acquire some information form each post which will overall affect my short film and the way it comes out. 

Analysis of Short Films

The Mystery of Flying Kicks

Video:

http://vimeo.com/71867019

7 Murder, sex, drugs, art, politics… sneakers hanging on telephone lines have become a powerful urban symbol, inspiring genesis theories both hilarious and sinister. In an effort to get to the truth once and for all we asked the people of earth to help us solve this mystery. Using an on-line call out and a phone message bank, this documentary was made entirely from donated photographs, phoned-in theories, video, vlogs, and animation.

The Mystery of Flying Kicks is the result of a unique digital collaboration between the filmmakers and the international public.

Directed by Matthew Bate

Produced by Viron Papadopoulos

WORLD PREMIERE - SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST 2010 

WInner Best Short Documentary: MELBOURNE Film Fest 2010 // DOC EDGE NZ 2010 // CURT DOC SPAIN 

Official Selection: Edinburgh Film Fest// Sheffield DocFest // Sydney Int // Brooklyn // CPH:DOX

Official Site: flying-kicks.com

Facebook - like us!:facebook.com/closerprods

BUY the DVD: closerproductions.com.au/shop/products/flying-kicks-dvd-and-poster-package

The whole short film is a simple concept but analysed in depth. The main reoccurring theme is what does “Flying Kicks” mean? The film demonstrates what hanging shoes on a power line actually means to people. The film demonstrates multiple opinions from people from around the world. Not only does it give the viewer something to think about but also make them begin to think that something is done for a reason, but what is the reason? 

The short film is perfectly editing together and the film flows perfectly in time with the audio with footage. I feel that the widescreen bars really helped create that cinematic look to the film, however this was also due to the astounding shots which they used. The variation of medias mixed with a variation of colour and culture really holds an impact and gives the audiences an insight into other countries and their culture. I love the fact that the audience gain knowledge about a simple concept like shoe hanging and also giving the audience an understanding of different cultures. 

Firstly I would like to talk about the interesting amount of different media the short films uses, for example it uses computer recordings from programs like “Fraps, Cam Studios”, they also used cartoon animals to illustrate stories, in this case it’s about sneakers. They also recordings via camera, which they record interviews and cities to portray the sneakers on the power line. One use of new media which astounded me was the 3D Composition, I had never seen such a scene created like this and it really demonstrated the use of software in this day in age.

Bitch 

Written and Directed by: Dom Bridges

Bitch is a short film approximately 4 minutes long. It is produced the banner of Future Shorts (and was distributed by them) and was made in 2009. It has a linear narrative structure and it is subjective and restricted to the main character (who is a man) because we find out about events along with him. There is an element of surprise because at the beginning we see a vulnerable lady whom we think mistakes someone for her child but in the end we see that she is the one who manipulates the bond between a mother and child to get her expensive shopping for free. The idea of a surprise element would be good to use in our film because it makes the audience remember the film. 

The score comes in at the beginning of the film during the titles and at the end credits. During the film there are only ambient sounds of people shopping and the dialogue on screen. This makes the audience focus on what is being said. The editing has mainly cross cutting between the old lady and the man. However the editing with the titles is quite effective. Our film is also most likely to have simple editing because of the practical reasons such as the software we will be using. 

The location is the supermarket where is shot throughout the film which again is mostly in short films because of the time constraints they cannot show characters moving around a lot. 

The titles are effective and makes the film better in general in this film because they are created using products in a supermarket which goes with the theme of shopping as the main plot of the film is a man buying a tin of tuna. An example of this is, the title ‘Bitch’ is written on the washing powder and the director name ‘Dom Bridges’ is written on a box of dog food. The end credits are also effective because they are presented like a receipt as it says “Thank you for shopping with us” which could be interpreted with the meaning thank you for watching. 

The theme of the film is deceit and the roles of normal characters have been challenged because normally it would be the man who would something like that (deceiving) and the old woman would be the victim however in this film the roles have been swapped- also known as role reversal. 

There is a significance with the actors who play the roles of the character because it is obvious that the male cannot be the woman son and the photo does not match (as the man in the photo is Chinese). Therefore this is important in all films whether they are short or feature lengths that characters must be played with around the correct age. Such as in this film a young girl playing the role of the old lady would not work. 

The good point about this film is it is quite experimental in terms of the plot because a feature length film about buying a tin of tuna would almost definitely not be a success with the audience because there wouldn't be much of a story whereas in a short film it has worked with a very simple idea which has some humor and good techniques. 

Production Diary #3

This whole restarting using blogger has really given me dejavu from last year! Anyway now I feel like I am beginning to get the jist of things and I am starting to remember the errors and problems I encountered when doing a blog for the first time last year. This time I am hoping to keep on top of my posting and really get to grips with the feeling of being a natural blogger throughout my A2 Media Studies journey. I have also preapred myself for on the go and downloaded the Blogger Application for my iPhone 4. Now time to get some inspiration from some short films!

Research into Production Companies

For programmes on TV and movies to be released both in cinema and on DVD, production companies play a large role in this and if it weren’t for the productions companies a lot of media types wouldn’t be around. Production companies are responsible for the fundraising a specific production, they handle the budgeting, scheduling, scripting, marketing, the organisation of staff, post-production, distribution, the supply of talent and resources and the production itself. The production company is usually run by a producer or a director, but it can also be run by a career executive and in entertainment, a production company will rely highly on talent or a well known entertainment franchise to raise the value of a project therefore drawing it out to larger audiences.

The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media corporation headquartered in Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, California. It is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel.

Day & Night is a Pixar animated short film, directed by Teddy Newton and produced by Kevin Reher. It was packaged to be shown in theaters before Toy Story 3, and has been released to purchase on iTunes in the United States. Unlike most other Pixar shorts, the animation style combines 2D and 3D elements, and Up production designer Don Shank says it is "unlike anything Pixar has produced before". The stunning thing about this short film is that its such a simple point yet the short film seems as if it explores the message in through detail, that is what I feel the beauty of short film lie. Simple but powerful.

Example of Disney Short Film:

Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982.

We have also been looking at independent production companies so we can make a decision on if we want to use an independent company or not. An independent company is independent and therefore not owned by any major companies, they will get help from other companies when it comes to distributing as they may not have the resources to do so themselves. The companies we looked at are LionsGate Entertainment, Dimensions Films and Dark Castle Entertainment.

Film 4′s logo is simple and straight to the point, with an easily recognisable design. Anyone could draw this logo within a minute and even if you hadn't heard of the company, you would know it’s name just by the logo. I wouldn't call the design unique because many logos have a similar style, but the colour scheme and the name show the audience what the company is instantly, which is important. The design is timeless as it is simply four letters and a number. The colours will never go out of fashion as they are simple and popular. The versatility of the logos means that the colours can easily be changed to suit the genre of film that they are producing. For example, if they are producing a horror film they may want to change the red to black or white to black to have a more evil, dark effect. This makes it so the logo would be appropriate in any scenario of film that they produce, as it would be easy enough to change it.

Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures), is an American motion picture studio, owned by Comcast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. and is one of the six major movie studios. Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City.

Universal have a globe with ‘Universal’ overlaying it, this suggests they want to produce films for everyone. This is a very simple but effective design because everybody recognises the globe and what it stands for. In addition, this logo is memorable because film watchers can associate the globe with ‘Universe’. This logo signifies that Universal is for everyone and nothing specific because the company name is wrote on top of the globe. This logo is also timeless because the way the globe looks will never change and therefore will be instantly recognisable in every generation. Universal have changed the way it looks quite alot however the concept has always been the same, which is the globe with Universal written over it (Refer to video below).

Production Diary #2

As this is still the beginning of my coursework I am still clueless of what I sort of short film I am going to create, however I am hoping that after each research task I will be able to begin take each post and incorporate it with my idea for my short film. By the end of the research topic I should have an idea for my short film and begin preparing for it straight away instead of waiting once I finish the research section of my blog to think of ideas.

Conventions of a Short Film

Characters

Characters is an Obvious Convention as ‘Short films’ tend to stick to 2 or 3 main characters. Being ‘short’, short films don’t have time to create deep back story or history for the characters, therefore character numbers are kept low in Short Films to allow the viewer to relate to the characters in the small amount of time. For Example, Hirsute is a Short Film staring the same Actor, yet play two different Characters.

Twist

Films nearly always contain a ‘Twist’, the reason for twisting the story-line is to make the short film more interesting as they are so short. Without a Twist in a Short Film the story-line would simply be uninteresting. For Example, The Black Hole is a Short Film About a normal night at the Office, however the twist is about a Black Hole with Unique Powers.

Budget

Short Films typically have a low budget. This is based on the fact that most Short Film Directors are independent without the sufficient backing in terms of funding. They keep their budget down by sticking to one or two locations and only using one or two actors. Having such a short film allows costs to be little to nothing in some departments as some actors will work for free if they really like the story-line For Example, The Black Hole is a Short Film based in an Office with only one Actor/Character; meaning small budget.

Length

Short Films are typically ‘Short’ and usually have a max length of 35 Minutes. They are typically around 5 – 10 Minutes in Length. If these ‘Short Films’ were any longer they wouldn't be classed as ‘Short’; and would be named Feature Length. Examples: Connected – Short Film / 7:30. Films usually take an everyday situation that we can all relate to and then flip it on its head in some way. This allows the viewer to relate to the Short Film, but at the same time intriguing the viewer. For Example, The Black Hole is a Short Film Based in a Normal Office Environment, But Special Powers are revealed by a ‘Black Hole’.

Progression of Time

Due to short films being 'short' the directors will need to speed up the footage in parts of the film which aren't as important, this will then reduce time. Other methods such as split screen, time lapse and cross cutting are all used to reduce time wastage and to keep the short film flowing quickly whilst maintain viewers interest. 

Emotion

Short films are used to convey a strong emotion to the viewer whether this is laughter, pleasure, sadness or anger, sometimes making comments on morals or society in the process. Short films can be a lot more powerful in this way as it is easy to make something appear differently to how it is or to get the audience thinking about a particular topic without having the time to make up their minds while watching, leaving them to contemplate after the film has finished. There will also usually be a stronger connection to the characters as they are shown closely throughout, with the creativity allowing for more humor and pleasure.

Online distribution

Unlike mainstream film, short films are laregly accessable for free through the internet. There are many sites who distribute short films online from independent to established sites such as the BBC. This is the easiest and most effective way for short film to reach audiences as they are very rarely shown at cinemas or on television. DVDs can be brought with selections of short films on, however, they are most widely accessed over the web. As short film is based much more on creativity and expression rather than mainstream and profit, it is much more important for the film maker to reach a wide audience and distribute films to them for free.

Todorov Theory

Equilibrium is typically applied to Short Films.

Equilibrium - Everything is normal

Disequilibrium - A Problem Occurs

New Equilibrium - Problems is solved, Everything is back to normal; however a change is noticeable

Here is a great video which I found on YouTube - Not only does it show great scene with conventions but it also comments and analysis on them. 

Production Diary #1

I really feel that my blog should have a strucutre so by having all the research tasks done before planning is the best option as I will have learnt so much knowledge on short films which I can then use to create my short film, I will use all the information I learnt to create a film which really has meaning and follows the conventions of a short film. I will now continue to finish my research and I will aim to finish all my research tasks by the time I come back from Summer break (September 2013). Now for the conventions of short films...