Post 6- What Makes A Good Short Film ?

Short films are the fastest growing section of the movie business, with major directors, big brands, and web guerrillas all using them to reach big audiences. A recent issue of The Independent says 'There has never been a better time to watch short films. There are more being made, there are more festivals that cater to the format, and the Internet and portable devices are perfect for watching short films.'

We were lucky enough to have a visit from film Producer Becky Knapp, her visit not only gave me great insight into film making but also taught me a lot about how the film industry works and the purpose of a short film. Short films can range in length from three to five minutes, or twelve to fifteen minutes. The Times states 'Most festivals will accept a short anything that is under 30 minutes, but many programmers and curators also say that they find it difficult to place longer short films (ones over 20 minutes). If your film is over 20 minutes long it may well need and be able to cope with more characters and a secondary story strand. The majority of funding in the UK is aimed at films that are around the 10 minute mark.'  If your film is five minutes there is no time to establish the characters so you must work on stereotypes, in contrast, if your film is twenty minutes long it may have a subplot so there is more room for complex characterisation. In a short film the character in the film must have a problem or obstacle otherwise there is a loss of dramatic tension. You must also think about who's point of you you are telling the story from. Becky quotes 'A film is about showing and not telling'. The main character must have a want, need or obligation. In any film there must be a catalyst for change, the climax and finally a resolution. This can be a very strenuous task when creating a short film as you have limited amount of time in which to include all prior things. Finally Becky stated that you must try and sum up your film in one line, this is called a 'log line'.

Becky gave us several of her scripts, one of these was 'Does God Play Football' first we read the script and from reading the script i did not imagine the film how it was when we watched it. This film had an impact on me, i enjoyed watching the story unravel and the element of the 'Feel good factor' the music and lighting in this film were particularly effective.The warm glowing lighting when there was a mention of God helped the audience to understand the cut off point between real life and fantasy. I feel when producing my own short film i would like to incorporate a form of this cross between two worlds, its effective in a sense that the audience can relate because its a realistic and relative to modern, every day life.

After this Becky went on to state that the title of any film is imperative. It either has to relate to and set up the genre or in contrast have nothing to do with the genre to leave people guessing, for example Sean of the dead. As well as this Becky explained that a film regardless of its length must have one sentence that summarises what happens, what is revealed and that is significant to the plot. Finally Becky went on to say that with short films you must keep the tone consistent, keep the character active and show the change in the character.Becky’s visit left us grate incite into the world of short film, provided us with lots of information and most importantly a variety of scripts.  The script we focused on was “Does God play football?” I enjoyed reading through this script and after we had done this as a class we got to watch the film, i really enjoyed reading through the script and then watching the film because i showed me how a script can come to life. With this in mind it helped me to develop my idea as well as get a good insight on how scripts should be set out.

When producing a short film it is clear that the writing and idea development part of any film is likely to be one of the more challenging areas for film makers. With this in mind when writing a script it is important to have previously approached the idea generation and writing stage of your short film. Many critics have analysed a variety of scripts and pre-production work and have said that the most frequent problem is that all producers want to include too much information for their short films. A key and successful part of this short film i feel is the use of music, music plays a huge role in helping to recognise the genre of the film and in 'Does God Play Football' the film begins by blaring out classical music including the sound of an organ which instantly tells the audience that the plot is based around a church and the concept of religion. The use of music also helps to create emotion and tension and key parts of the film.

Post 5- Audience Theory & My Short Film

I feel i now have a greater understanding of short films, the industry, and the theorists views. Analysing films i feel is a difficult task, but in doing it you gain understanding of the conventions of short film and it shows you as a director what work and what doesn't. As i will be making a short film for my A2 coursework i feel it somewhat imperative to watch and analyse a number of short films. Thus i have looked at four short films and analysed them on the following...

-Preferred Reading/Dominant hegemonic position
-Negotiated Reading/Negotiated hegemonic position
-Oppositional hegemonic position
-Aberrant decoding
-Moral Panic
-Mode of Address
-Profile the target audience
-Consider the viewing environment

The Black Hole



Watching this short film the dominant hegemonic/preferred reading that the audience are given is that the man has been given this black hole on a piece of paper and now he has the power to take anything he wants by using this black hole. The most powerful message that the audience gets is that you shouldn't take what isn't yours. The Oppositional hegemonic, this is from the audiences point of view, watching this short film we can understand why he is taking the money and chocolate with the new power his has but we can disagree that he is being greedy and taking what doesn’t belong to him.

The moral panic occurs in this short film as the audience get a premonition that something bad is going to happen in regards to the man using the black hole, the music that accompanies this just reinforces the idea of panic. As there is a lack of dialogue the audience are fully focusing on the situation, creating more panic and tension. The mode of address is the relationship between the addresser and the addressee , in this articular is showing the audience what you potentially could do if they knew they wouldn't get caught out. The Black Hole i feel appeals to a wide and varied audience due to its comical nature, despite its comical nature i believe there is a hidden message which would only be obvious to an older generation audience. As this film is a comedy i believe showing it to a large audience would be more effective than showing it to people individually.

About a Girl




The audience start to understand and recognise the girls lifestyle and her background, in addition to her lifetime dreams of becoming a pop star with her friends in a girl band. The most dominant message the audience receives is that the girl has been desensitised by her parents, which mean she doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. This is supported when she throws her baby into the water in the last scene. The oppositional hegemonic, the audience can understand her feeling of being neglected by her father and sometimes by her mother, as well as this the audience can relate to her ambition to make something of herself , the audience won’t understand and agree with her throwing her baby into the water. The nnegotiated hegemonic, the audience can agree as well as understand the girl and her motives, however some audience members may completely disagree with what the girl has done.

 Moral Panic, the closing scene shows the girl throwing the baby in the water and it is this that gives the audience an intense feeling as it was so unexpected, most audience members would watch this section in disgust. This leaves the audience psychologically asking questions about why she did it. The Mode of address, this is the relationship between addresser and addressee, and in this short are constructed by looking at the working class. The film is aimed at a middle class audience, as it gives them the opportunity to see first hand what working class life is like, the middle class are seen as outsiders and looking in to a different world and way of living. This short film begins by trying to gain audience sympathy, where as at the end the audience feel no sympathy what so ever. This short won many awards including a 2001 BAFTA for best short film, Edinburgh Prize best short film and the Turner Classic movie shorts top place. I believe this film targets target a predominantly middle class audience, however i don't believe this sort of film would initially Target this demographic. In conclusion i feel this film would be better shown in small groups, creating a more intense atmosphere.

Wasp

The short film ‘Wasp’ was directed by Andrea Arnold, the film is a social realism film. 'Wasp' is a representation of broken Britain, it creates a sense of moral panic through its presentations of the shambolic state of the lives which the children in the short film are forced to live. This is achieved through the sense of the numbers of single mothers rising and the concept of children mothering other children. Due to it's subject matter, 'wasp' is a highly unpleasant and uncomfortable film to watch. As a viewer it is hard to feel any form of sympathy towards the main character Zoe,  as you watch her hungry children eat sugar when there is not food in the house,  and scrounging chips off of the floor.

Arnold is constantly trying to inform us that we as an audience as well as a society look past the poverty that occurs in our country, and thus by watching this film we are reminded. The use of stereotypes is a strong message within this film, showing the interpretation as a society that we have upon 'Working class Britain'. An example of this is when Zoe is trying to impress a man she used to no by spending money she hasn't got on alcohol, whilst leaving her children outside in a car park scrounging for food. At this point the audience feel no sympathy for her character, however i feel this is a bad representation of single mothers, however this reinforces stereotypes believing single mother are unable to cope. This is backed up throughout the whole film as we see a strong neglect for her children. Looking at the film from an audiences point of view, the negotiated hegemonic view could differ greatly from the dominant hegemonic. Audience members could assume she is a good mother however is just finding it difficult to cope, thus befriending this man could give her a helping hand.

Does God Play Football



The 10 minute short films fallows the life of Tommy, a boy growing up without a father in a small Yorkshire town, he prays for a father which is delivered in the shape of the new local Catholic priest. We then get the impression from the mother he is actually, his real father. The dominant hegemonic shows how the young boy fills in the emotional gaps in his life and explores spirituality through a child's eyes, yet blurs the line between fantasy and reality.  When watching this film i felt the stereotype of a working class mother was represented, as with 'Wasp' i feel this film portrays an aspect of the mother not coping and needing a man, other village members seem to look down on her, as well as this we see the young boys desire for a father that make you feel as if shes not doing a good enough job as a single mother. This film seem to portray an oppositional hegemonic position, the film seems to suggest that God is a father figure which plays on irony as his Father is in fact a member of the church.Tommy's Passion for football i believe shows a need for a male figure in his life, and i believe although this film does have a 'Feel good factor' it actually plays on the idea of the working class, demonising them, in this case stating single parents aren't capable. I feel this film would target a predominantly younger audience demographic however is suitable for all ages groups, i also feel this film would be better viewed by a large audience so that they could discuss what they felt about the film at the end.