Purpose of Short Films

The most common reasons for creating short films are self-promotion and experimentation. They can be seen as a baby step into film production because it's all about finding different ways of expressing themes and communicating a message within different techniques. Whether it's sound, Mise-En-Scene or the cinematography.

They can also be used as a way of understanding New Media technology when it comes to filming with new cameras or editing with new software. It can be used to enhance the knowledge of technology and seen as an experiment with different shots, editing techniques and post-production to find ways of communicating a message. While challenging the normal conventions of filming a short film. Also they're mainly funded by the local film production companies like the UK Film Council or BBC Films.

Research equipment

I researched into the list of what equipment and software I will be using for my entire A2 Media Project, I even included software and external equipment to this detailed list.

Audience Research

Potential Audience

Over the last few years the creation of short films has increased this is because of technology which has enabled many people to create films in short amount of time.Short films are not profit- oriented; they are mainly created for the self-promotion of directors, to be entered in film festivals and competitions- they are like a ‘stepping stone’ and to gain experience.

The target audience would effect the content in the film. Feature length films have more potential audiences because they have much more publicity, as the trailers/posters/adverts are shown in various locations such as on television, near cinemas, stations and bus stops the public becomes more aware of them compared to short films which are not normally as heard of. The main reason for this is the budget which is much less than main stream films, as short films are normally 5-10 minutes less money is needed to create them therefore there is also less publicity otherwise more would have to be spent on publicity compared to the actual film. 

Other ways how short films are distributed is through the internet again with due to technology, people from all over the world are able to see short film with sites such as YouTube and the BBC Film Network (some films are also shown on the official websites of the director/creator) and this enables the creator to easily share their work as people of different ages visit these sites. However not many people do search for short films as they are not main stream as do not get as much publicity as feature length films. therefore it would not easily reach target audiences.

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) classifies all films in created in the UK. There are six categories where films can be classified into and there are ‘U’ which is suitable for all, ‘PG’- Parental Guidance, ’12’ and ‘12A’- Not suitable for children under the age of 12 however may see the film accompanied with an adult, ’15’, ‘18’ and ‘R18’.

The reason for why films are classified is because of the content- some scenes may disturb/be harmful to different audiences. For example horror film may upset younger children making them unsuitable therefore there would be an age limit so the child must be at least a particular age before they can watch the film. An example for this is Paranormal Activity 3 was rated 15 as it contained strong language and threats which would not suit anyone younger than this age.

The aim for short film relates tends to relate to the purpose if short film. One of the main reasons is for self-promotion. Therefore, the film is aimed at people who go to film festivals and competitions or even talent scouts. As short films are typically used as experimentation for aspiring and established film directors, the audiences would not be as wide as a feature length film. An example of this would be Cherries by Tom Harper. The 15 minute film was about a class of 16 year olds who were being called to the front line. The film would have been shown in schools from year 10 upwards on the issue of a  

But that main reason is for self-promotion as it won an award in the Virgin Short Film festival. However, short films are not always used for self-promotion. Alive In Joburg and Double Take are clear examples

Survey

Analysis of survey results

Analysis of previous student A2 work

Short Film

Parallel  by Matthew Thomas

Intro

The audience are first introduced to an introduction to the short film. This is to represent the production company of the film, however the design for this intro is completely distracting. In my opinion the intro is cheesy and ruins the introduction of the short film, just by seeing that intro then seeing the short film ruins the experience for me. Also the overall design/theme of the intro I didn't sort of understand, why is the title placed on metal and somethings burning in the corner, it doesn't make sense. However saying that it doesn't have to make sense it's only an intro. In my opinion the production company intro should be a simple black with text.

Concept

We are introduced to a character doing normal daily tasks in his morning day to day life, whilst this is going on we are left with cheesy background music. He goes from multiple stages from waking up, putting his clothes on, making breakfast, eating, getting ready to go out, and when he leaves the door that's when a split screen occurs, this is already half way into the film so it took a while for the film to become engaging. We are introduced to two of the same people however two completely different attitude, on one side one guys in a jacket and smoking and on the other ones in a suit all happy and smiling. Then they come together in a scene as if they are two different people maybe like twins or something. After this split screen is almost always used and we are entered in another clip where there are two different phones, probably one for each character, however the texts seem exactly the same just one is written in slang and one isn't, they both mean the same and in my opinion doesn't make sense. But short films don't have to make sense, that's the beauty of them. Then we a brought to a scene with a table set for i'm guessing the girl in the text. One of the guys girls doesn't turn up and he is the one who set up the table and the other guy's girl arrived and he is lounging on the sofa, then the short ends with a kiss. I mean talk about confusing, lots of things weren't answered and I just didn't understand/like the overall creation, but to be honest I don't have to like it and maybe his short was targeted at someone else and maybe the purpose of his short was to create questions. 

Shot/Cinematography

In my opinion I am a cinematography kind of guy. I love when shots are clean and perfectly shot. Cinematography is a major aspect for me and using a variety of angles. However this students work seems to look like a standard student movie, this is something I want my short film not to have. I want my short film to look professional and as if it wasn't created by a student. This film uses the stereotypical look and shots from any student films, boy wakes up, dresses up, makes breakfast, eats, then that is where the movie kicks off and takes it's own story. Student short films are beginning to have the same look and feel to them all which is starting to bore me and make me shy away from watching student short films.

Edit

The short film was very simply edited. He basically shot the film and then placed all the shorts in the order he wanted to create the short. The only major editing he did was probably creating the introduction and creating the split screen. There was no colour correction and the overall footage looked a bit flat. If there was a bit of work with colour correcting I feel that the film would hold more professional feel and look. 

Film Article Analysis

Magazine: Prevue

Film Review: Did you hear about the Morgans? (2009)

Director: Marc Lawrence

This double page spread was published in Prevue, instantly we can see that the headline for this magazine is the film title, by choosing the title "Did you hear about the Morgans?" it represents what the review will be about and what film, straight to the point.

The overall layout for the review is clear and simple, few pictures and a few images with breakout boxes with breakout paragraphs. By making the main picture large on the double page spread means there will be a considerably less amount of space for writing, therefore this helps to keep the review short and keeps the readers interested unless it is an academic review such as Empire who normally gives in-depth detailed reviews which are still balanced. 

Empire's reviews are completely different compared to Prevue, this is because Prevue gives a short synopsis that doesn't reveal too much of the film, the reviews on Prevue rarely criticize the films, therefore it is not balanced as others would be, this would make the audience go and watch the film this is because of the intended audience. The intended audience would be people who go to the cinema often checking for good films releasing. This is because the language is simple, there is limited information (so it doesn't spoil the film) on the review and it is mainly biased, therefore young people would tend to read this review.

For the house-style, there is a big title in big, bold capital letters. Apart from a few titles, the breakout paragraph and one small breakout box the font remains the same throughout. The colour of the font is different for the main title (to make sure it stands out) and the film information (which is what the audience would need to know whether they read the review or not), the rest of the article has black font.

Film Posters

Purpose

Film posters are created for advertising purposes as directors and producers try and get as much of promotion for their films as possible. It is there to show the film in a positive representation. It highlights the stars of film that portray the main characters with their name and the picture of them.

The posters also contains key production unit information such as the director, producer and it contains the distribution information such as when and where it will be released. There are normally a series of posters that are created; these are to attract different audiences.

Types of film posters

Character Poster

Teaser Poster

When a film is ready for release the‘teaser’ posters are released. This shows the audience that the film is soon to come. They give the audience a little knowledge about the film without to giving away too much information, just the general view such as the main stars, director, the genre or the type of film it will be and the age guidance.

There are also 'Character Posters', the posters each have different main characters, these normally have the image of the character, character's name, actor's name, and line or information about the character. The posters are normally quite alike and follow the same structure with each of the important characters from the film. These are created to give a bit of background information about each main character in the film, this helps the cast and crew show what to expect of each character and to understand them better.

Conventions

The main conventions of film posters in terms of technical codes are:

• The title: These are specially edited/created with special effects to make the font suit the theme of the film.
• Name of the star/main actor: The main celebrities/main actor present in the film are normally mentioned on the poster.
• Picture/Image of the star: The main stars have their image as the main attraction on posters, they are shown through their characters
• Billing Block: This the the information bundled together normally placed at the bottom of the poster, people generally don't read this information however it is what helps to make the poster look like a film poster instead of a general advert
• Tagline: This is an important element because it give the audience more information about the film. The taglines normally follow a pattern to make it catchy and something the audience is most likely to remember. They can have the 'rule of three', rhyme, a contrast, balance, or repetition.-Background: This has different effects on the audience as some posters are incredibly simple with not much background but with the main stars, however if there is a background it shows other features of the film again giving the audience more knowledge about what the film is about.
• Age Certificate: This helps to let the audience know the minimum age it is suitable for therefore about if the content would be suitable for minors.

There are different options available in terms of which ones appear and how they appear because there is certain information that the creators would like the audience to know. For example, the movie poster for the film Avatar had ‘From the makers of Terminator’ therefore as this was a successful box office film it would make the audience the creators are back with another great film so manipulating the audience into thinking to go and see this film as well. You would not see a film that would mention a box office flop film as they are trying to give the film a positive impression on the audience.

Due to technology, even fonts can be utilized to make them suitable for the theme of the film. If there was a new actor who was going to debut in a particular they may not be on the poster as no-one would know who they are therefore there would be no point in placing them on there representing the film. This is the same with Short films which is why on posters there are normally iconic images placed. 

Teaser Posters are more simple as these come out before the main final versions.

The technical codes they have are:

-Actor's Name

-Character's Name

-Character's Image

-A tagline/description associated with the characters

-Simple background which is same for each character


Analysis of Short Film Posters

Short Film posters have a complete different look to their posters, in a sense they look more like a teaser for a Hollywood movie however they poster is actual for a short film. If you think about it short films are just films which are shorter than a full length so you ultimately would also think that it would be the same case with the film poster. Simple & clean.

the kid with a bike

 


Simple Analysis

I have noticed that most short film posters all have a simple design. In this particular poster there is a main image of the overall concept of the movie being a kid and the title being "the kid with a bike". The main background image has two main colours, red and yellow/pale. The red colour from the t-shirt is also used in some of the text for example the star for ratings and the release date for short, this is mainly to keep the colour theme intact with the overall film poster.

Text which is needed to stand out such as taglines, reviews, awards. White is complete opposite to the red and stands out. However information such as actors name and the billing block is in black as it's not as important compared to the rest of the poster. The title of the short film is simple and doesn't even start with a capital letter, that is one of the major aspects of the film poster, the simple look. Even the title is so simple that it doesn't need a capital letter.

The Mystery of the Flying Kicks

Deep Analysis

The overall design is very clean and basic, however saying that the poster holds power. It makes the audience stop and admire it, with the clean blue background and the main colour being from the main subject of both the poster and the  short film itself (shoes). There is a simple but effective colour theme in this poster, white being standard text, blue being the background of the poster and also being the main title of the short film “Flying Kicks”. Usually the main title is suppose to stand out and been seen easily however this poster breaks the convention and creates a new feel to film posters overall, The title isn't actually a known text, I think that this text was created for this movie, I mean the text itself is a shoe lace which links back to the short films story of being about shoes.

Lace type font which was  probably created specifically for this short film  poster. Illustrates the  concept of the short as a  whole form a simple text. This is the first time I  have ever seen a text which resembles  something instead of just the films title. This grabs the audiences attention as it’s new and unseen of and illustrate in a second what the film will be about.

Simple thin lace to hold to hold stack of shoes; this also demonstrates the overall meaning of the film and what you will accomplish by watching it. What does shoes hanging mean? This was also a  clever way of adding colour to the poster and giving it life which is grab peoples attention.

The poster as a whole defeated multiple conventions however on the other hand it also for- fills the purpose of a film poster. It describes what the film will be about and grabs the viewers attention. However a familiar convention used  is a tagline. It follows the overall poster theme of  being simple and informs the audience the concept of the film.

As you can see all the institution information is kept short and simple which suggests that is the overall theme and look  that they are trying to create with their short film poster. This could link to the overall summary of the short film, as the short is about a simple concept. The poster is simply describing the film in just the poster however the film itself goes in depth. The website and the production company’s logo is included to demonstrate the creators of the movie, a main reason for doing this would be that those who know the production company and enjoy the films they create just being seeing this logo, this will reassure them that the film is worth while. just like their other productions.

Short FIlm Festivals

Fun creative way to demonstrate a variation of global film festivals, I felt the need to include a paragraph on each festival with their represented logo.

Evidence of films you admire

When browsing YouTube this short film grabbed my attention in seconds, it could be due to the beauty of the composition,angles/shots or it could be the foreign language and English subtitles which give a depth in the short. The film goes through a young boy wanting to know who's the person in the old photograph, he goes through his whole family asking them the same question and they end up not answering his question and keep doing the activities they were dwelling in, all except his grandma. At the dinner table someones phone goes off and a family relative attack them in a virtual gaming world and she demands the family to attack back! This for me demonstrates the type of photograph we live in today, family time use to be at the dinner table whilst eating however it has evolved to technology being family time. This short will be a huge inspiration for my film and I will always keep watching this film for tips.

Simple but beautiful, this is what I felt about this short. The bright pure colours with the innocent faces of the children just got me in a moment. For me it was unusual the girls asking for a paper airplane as our generation seems to be more dwelled in technology then outdoor activities . This short demonstrates how simple things with your family can be the best time of your childhood and we should never forget that. Family moments like these are ones which will stay in our memory for years, this film demonstrates family as a whole just in a subtle way.

This film for me was all about the concept, if I am honest I did not like the way the short was shot and edited, it just looks like an average student film and it probably could be. However I wanted to take a message about family values and how important it means to people. Even though this film gave a deep topic a comical twist, the impact of the message of family values stood deep to the audiences. Fun and powerful.

Lastly this short was yet again about the subtle message which was created from the short. We see the film as the film creators point of view, all the clips of his family and vacation seem to be in his eyes, however some of the clips he is in so he isn't filming... I mean the short does seem completely acted and stages (Maybe this is on purpose?) however I liked the message of family and the type of downfalls family could come across. Overall the fun message of family issues creates a subtle approach to a deep topic of issue within the family and this short does it perfectly, except the issue isn't that serious.

Short Film Theorists

Influences of short film genre & Research into the genre

I created a single prezi for both tasks of genre as I felt that the task as a whole would flow better with a section on the genre as a whole then the chosen genre for my short. 

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).

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. 

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).

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. 

History of Short Films

Below is a prezi presentation explaining the history of short film. I really want to vary my blog posts so I will be using different types of formats to keep my blog as interesting as possible.  

Short Film

According to the Academy of Motion Arts Picture Arts and Sciences, a short film is defined as “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits”. (Source: Wikipedia). Short films have different interpretations and different audiences view the film in different ways. In each film there is normally a moral or a message behind it. Each part of the film is carefully thought out to give it good techniques that will suit the film.

Short films are distributed through the internet with video sharing sites like YouTube and BBC Film Network, on specialist TV channels/ public service like channel 4, film festivals such as the London Film Festival and the Palm Springs International film festival. They are entered in competitions such as the film Gone Goodbye was entered in the competition to create a film in 100 hours and Veronique was entered into the Film Four competition. Some short films are made for educational purposes and so are distributed to schools to be shown (to particular- suitable) audiences in lessons. Short films are rarely profit-oriented and are often experimental. Mostly they are produced for film festivals, the self-promotion of directors or educational purposes and often convey a message. It is a way of experiencing film making.

A short film is an independent film that is made in our to either experiment/challenge the social norms of everyday life or something within today's society. They tend to range from 5-20 minutes in length and are shot on location. Shorts films do not usually have a large budget and sometimes rely on funding from film companies, for example, the UK Film Council to help produce their film. They do not intend to be profit-orientated and more for self-promotion as they are sometimes entered into film competitions like Virgin Short Films, or film festivals like London Film Week or Cannes Film Festival.

For me, short films not only challenge the conventions of social norms but they present different ways of showing an issue that it is highly regarded in today's society. They may have the money to make a high-quality film but it makes them more interesting because of the stylistic approach that they take. Feature length films tend to make an exaggeration on an aspects of social life and not go over range of different genres in order to attract wider audiences. For example, Avatar(directed by James Cameron) can attract all ages, kids because of the visuals and special effects and older audiences because of the story and the detail that it develops into.

Cameron had been waiting for more than 10 years to make the film because of the technology. But it immediately shows the difference between the purpose of short films and feature lengths. They don't have any other reason to be made than to entertain by giving people an experience, or to gain a profit. Which also highlights the change in the way film is viewed and used for in today's society.