Short Film Analysis

Jet: Award Winning Short Thriller - Jordan Chesney

Info: A man at his lowest has the opportunity to save a Girl kidnapped from the Curbside.

Time - 7 Mins 45 Sec

Rating - 6.8/10

Date - 1st May 2013

Budget - $10,000

https://vimeo.com/53568239

Jet is an unfortunate man whose best-laid plans are foiled by a little girl. Caught up in the middle of a disturbing crime, will he be able to save the little girl's life, and his own, or will his decisions destroy them both?

A key factor to this film that was very interesting was the lack of Dialogue, although this diverts form typical conventions. I believe this was very clever as Chesney has produced a film that most can understand with no one speaking. However, If this would become a Feature film I would prefer dialogue as it would eliminate depth to the film if not used. For example, Why is the protagonist attempting suicide, Why this location and What is the reasoning for the well dressed men taking the girl to a luxury house ?

For the opening scene, the facial close ups followed by the wide shot from the back of the truck convey the torment the protagonist is going through. From here we carry on with the wide shot when the girl comes into shot, this follow with a facial close up with the protagonist dropping his gun. This connotes that the man could have been going through some stress which relates to a child etc. The technique used which is somewhat POV gives a real sense of emotions that the Protagonist may be going through and therefore adds to the film.

Sound and Music was provided by Neil Degraide. The music throughout this adds real suspense to the film and keeps adding to the events that are happening, Thereby following on with the Thriller conventions.

For this film their is no Age Classification that I can find, However due to the small amount of less detailed violence and the unsuccessful suicide I would classify this film as a 12A or at max a 15.



Soft: Sundance Winner Tense Drama - Simon Ellis

Info: Father and Son tormented by a Gang of 'Happy-Slapping' `Youths.

Time - 14 Mins 10 Sec

Rating - 7.3/10

Date - 20th April 2007

Budget - $50,000

A father and son are independently terrorised by the same gang of youths. The father if forced to deal with fears he hasn’t faced since leaving school. Rediscovering his fear of confrontation.

Soft has won many awards at festivals including Sundance film festival; Palm Springs International Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards. The budget was £50k.

There is no rating but there is strong language and nudity in a non-sexual context. From this I would rate this at 15 of higher due to its slightly child unfriendly content.

As for the Actors we can see that the Child and Dad have been abused by the same group and are both afraid of them. For the Child we can see that he doesn't like the abuse and goes to the Dad in the hope he will be able to sort it out. However due to the abuse, the Dad just wants it all to end as he isn't physically/mentally strong enough to fix the scenario.

Music is sparse but Rock music is emerging from the son’s bedroom, adding to the sense of forthcoming violence from the bullies.

The majority of the film is professionally shot, however some shots have been incorporated to look like they are shot on a handheld device or phone. I can tell this due to the shaky, cropped footage that is of a lower quality than the rest of the film. This although not professional, it adds to the film to show the street style and the fact the bullies are most likely going to share the footage on social media. This therefor links with stereotypes and conventions with this generation.

The images are stereotypes of trouble making young people who hang outside local shops with track-suits, flat caps and Branded footwear. The father on the other hand seems to be from a traditional working class family who could have been married previously. This is shown from his Clothing and where is house is located.

The target audience would seem to be young people and access would probably be primarily via the Internet on sites such as YouTube and Short of the Week. I can see that it would be for the younger audience as they could be experiencing Bullying and therefore they would/ could find it online.

Due to the popularity of the film, we can see that the use of the phone shot can be seen to show a difference in perspective and matches stereotypes.





The Guilt: Your Film Festival Winner - David Victori

Info: After the murder of Leo's wife a single idea circles endlessly within his head: Revenge

Time -12 Mins 51 Sec

Rating - 7/10

Date - 8th October 2010

Budget - $60,000




The Guilt is a Spanish short film which is based upon a person looking for revenge after the murder of the protagonist's wife.

This films is the combination a multiple complex and unique shots that portray the style and aesthetic the production crew are/were going for. With this infinity, illusion staircase amazingly show the audience the portrayal of time and also the small yellow lit area falling at the bottom of the staircase. With the outline of the protagonist, Leo, standing in the warm lit area we can see that dynamic style and ambition is a key part to this film. The dull, mysterious and gloomy scene presents us with the ideas danger and problems may be to come in this short.





This is a clever implementation of a hint to this short as this word translates into 'fifth' which is the floor number but also links in to a key part of the film in its later stages. Unknowing to the viewer this cold blue colour and theme is a hint of whats to come in this tense packed short.

A part that catches my attention was the acting. Typically the short films I have seen apart from these 3 have has appalling actors as the budget is fairly low to get any professional. However this short has been able to combine the style of camera work and excellent actors to produce such a good film. The protagonist played by Carlus Fabrega, is a challenging and intense role. However the way he brings the character to life and produces effects and emotions that would be seen in many feature films.




In this scene we can see that the continuity between the yellow tone here and the staircase could be purposeful. Here we can see that the protagonist is leaving his wife and that appears as his emotional love and comfort. When it transitions into the staircase we can see the same yellow tone and the protagonist standing their.

With him looking up the dingy, cold blue staircase it suggests that he is now leaving his comfort and going to do something bad or regretful. The killer of Leo wife is at the top of the staircase, when seeing the mise en scene we can see that the production crew have looked into making the killer be dressed like the staircase. This is shown by the blue attire and the cold coloured room.

Overall we can see that the staircase is a main part of the film and it represents a painful, guilt journey that Leo has taken.

This is the best short film I personally have ever seen so far. The acting and production quality is of really hight quality and I wouldn't say it was created by such a small company.

Initial Ideas

After looking deeper into Short films and films in general I have found out many interesting facts and concepts that would help create a better film.

When looking at target audience we originally wanted our film to appeal to everyone to get the most interest. However from research I have found that the older generation will not be very interested in our short film. The reasoning behind this is because our genre (depicted from survey results) is Triller / Crime which is commonly appealing to the younger people as they want action packed scenes/ films.

Another factor is style, as we are producing a short film we need to show of a wide range of talents to keep people intrigued into our films. We have chosen short films as the amount of work is considerably less than a feature film for example. This will help us concentrate and use more of our skills in the time frame we have. Hopefully by creating a good short if we were to enter a film competition we would have a better chance of being recognised. 

From this I can tell that in depth research will allow us to have a good understanding of what audience want and strive for in a film. 

Technology Advancements

During the last 10 years the refinement and advances in technology have meant that companies with a lower budget and consumers them selves can access equipment that was only accessible by Hollywood film companies. With advancements such as DSLR'S and CGI, a variety of smaller teams are releasing Cinema grade feature Films.

Other advancements have seen the production process to be dramatically shortened with equipment such as the Mill Blackbird. This is a moving car chassis that can have a wide range of aspects changed such as the width and suspension with a flick of a button. After this software can manipulate a body of any vehicle onto the chassis to create a Car without having the real car there.

For our film we will try to use a selection of cameras; Canon 5d mk3, Canon 6d or Panasonic Gh4. These range from 1080p recording all the way up to 4k. Advancements in these DSLR's means that the common still camera can shoot stunning video and then transferred to a computer via SD card. This is unheard of in past year as the camera equipment only had the capability of recording onto film which couldn't be easily transferred and edited.

As for editing, advance software has took over from Film splicing and is now commonly available for a reasonably high cost. However, the Imac's we hope to use in the editing process have software pre installed that we can use for free. Further more if we plan to edit at a higher standard students and consumers can access a variety of trails and free membership plans to encourage people to use their software.

In conclusion, with the vast amount of companies producing technology of higher standards the exciting technology is getting cheaper and more accessible.

My Website

http://zackvincent1.wixsite.com/home

Institutional Research / legal Restraints

When making a Film there is many laws and restraints that you have to conform to. This allows for the film to be produced legally. Theses Restrains are accessible by many and are as follows:

• The acquisition of rights in the intellectual property (who owns the script, story rights, the screenplay etc.) 

• Legal Guardian rights of any underage crew members.

• A written agreement of fair hours, length of employment, compensation and on screen credits, with the crew members.

• Secure location releases of the property owner if on location.

• Not to use copyrighted music, unless you have the rights to do so from current owner of the track. 

As for our film, I believe we won't have any concerns in the form of breaking this restraints.The reason for this is because we have created and original idea as a team and we are producing it ourselves. In addition the actors we are using are volunteers to make their portfolio bigger therefore no money is being used for employment. As for Copyright, we will use non copyright music and effects from accessible website so we won't have to go into and hassle getting permission.

Institutes

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster, headquartered at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff. Its main responsibility is to provide public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man, but also has the BBC World Service and also BBC America. The BBC has their own BBC Film Network, which screens and occasionally broadcasts an array of short films, ranging from 3 minutes to 30 minutes to showcase new British Film Making. A quote from their website states “BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. It is firmly established at the forefront of British independent film-making and co-produces approximately eight films a year. Working in partnership with major international and UK distributors, BBC Films aims to make strong British films with range and ambition. We are committed to finding and developing new talent, as well as collaborating with some of the foremost writers and directors in the industry.”

Short films include “Above All Heights” “Cleverman” and “Trouble?”

Film 4 

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster, which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned. They have a sub section specifically for films called Film4, which is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that funds and screens films. Just like the BBC, Film4 also has a section for short films, showcasing them online and screening them occasionally. Titles of Film 4 short films include “Pitch Black Heist” “Incomplete” and “The Curse” Along with hundreds, maybe even thousands more short films.

O-region

O-region was co-founded in Cornwall in 2002 to explore new ways of telling stories through film and theatre, and support and encourage the work of local writers, directors, actors, artists and filmmakers.

Our members and collaborators have been involved with numerous projects across Cornwall and beyond, ranging from short films to full-length features, and from small-scale theatre shows to major national tours.

The company was founded by Carl Grose (Kneehigh, Radio 4, National Theatre) and Simon Harvey (Kneehigh / Blackfish / Rabbit Theatre), who is the company’s Artistic Director.

Other regular collaborators include Brett Harvey, Mark Jenkin, Ian Bucknole, Oliver Berry, Catherine Lake, Benjamin Dyson and Dogbite Film Crew.

O-region have produced a number of short films such as “Weekend Retreat” “Roughcut” and “The Midnight Drives”. They have won awards at film festivals with these titles. 

These will be the best for us as they are successful and are fairly close to us, therefore it would be easier to gain contact details for them.

History/Background of Short Films and introduction

Friends of mine (Ben and Fin) on the same course have wrote a Thriller/ Horror script due to the target audience research they have found. To create a successful film they have in listed myself and a fellow student Jake to help with the technical aspects of the film.

For my research into the History of Short films I will look into some famous directors and see what skills and equipment helped them when producing the film. Further more I have looked at previous students work and on website platforms such as; Short of the week and Film short.

Quentin Tarantino - My Best Friends Birthday

Martin Scorsese - The Big Shave

Steven Spielberg: The Last Gun, Slipstream.

The first films started out in 1894 with Thomas Edison and his Kinetoscope device. This was a singular viewer based device that conveyed a strip of picture past the persons eye at a high frame rate to create a almost stop motion film.

Years:

1900s':
Technology advancements meant that filming and editing had improved drastically upon its creation in the late 1800s. This therefore lead to longer more sophisticated films such as 'The one man band' (1900) which was directed by George Méliès who went on to create many more successful films in the early 1900's.

1910's:
The idea of a short film wore of at this point as audiences were demanding longer, multi reel films. Although tricky for film creators, the idea of longer 'Feature' films bought in more middle class audience which put a influx of money into the business. This helped the funding of the films and the 'Picture Palaces' which are more commonly known as cinemas now a days. DW Griffiths was the first to tend to the audience's needs with the film ' Klu Klux Epic, Birth of the nation(1915).

Onwards:
In the mid to late 1900's, short films had fallen behind the longer, more thought after films and were only left to show War servicemen in action. Although sparse, short films nowadays have their place to bring a variety to the film industry.