Taylor Kennard: 2010

Friday, 23 April 2010

Distribution

Short film is a primary way for a director to showcase their talents and to be recognized for their techniques and visual style, therefore distribution is a major final part of short film and needs to be done correctly, after all it is pointless creating a masterpiece that nobody can view. Where to distribute the short film is the most important thing to keep in mind, as nearly all cinemas don’t exhibit short film internet would be the best option for distribution especially for Confined, there is also the option of film festivals but submitting a school project with almost no budget to some of the major ones such as Rain dance or Encounters would almost certainly be rejected and therefore pointless as well as submitting to a festival set to a specific genre which your short film does not fall in to.

The first a most obvious way to distribute Confined was by uploading to sites such as you tube and Vimeo, this way we could showcase the short to a mass audience and also send the link to friends for feedback. We are also submitting the Confined to short film competitions and festivals such as Exposures, the UK’s leading student moving image festival and SFFA. We are also hoping to upload onto BBC network and to be nominated for next years golden Obies at the Brit awards.

Audience

We had no specific target audience in mind when creating our short film, we just contributed ideas that attracted us with an understanding that other students aged 16- 20 would also be attracted to the film. No short film has a real target audience that they aim towards as its such a niche format of media and primarily people interested in media or art are the audience for short film. However by content of our short film i.e. characters, choice of music, costumes, location and storyline we are able to give some demographic of an audience being around teenage years, I also personally believe that males would be more attracted to Confined due to the fast paced ‘fear’ scenes which are underlined with horror themes, the mugging scene which carries conventions of action and the overall story of being a male who has been mugged who faces the after math different to how females would primarily react.

After showing our short film to a group of year 12 media students we received feedback indicating that they all enjoyed the short film and majority of the students commented that they would watch the piece again, this showed that we delivered to a target audience successfully and appealed to them mainly through characters age and situation all of the answers to the question ‘do you think the character was portrait well’ was yes. I also believe that majority of teenagers living in inner London, or other major cities have been victims of or witnessed violent attacks such as mugging where as an audience from more quiet areas where crime percentage is a lot lower might not be able to relate as strongly to the situation as it has never had any real effect on their child hood or early adult life.

Thursday, 22 April 2010

Influences

Although we put together a unique storyline it didn’t just come out of nowhere, each individual piece of story was influenced from other sources each other member of the group had seen or heard , most of these were short films we had been researching whilst others were from other aspects of media. The shorts films I felt influenced me to contribute what I did to Confined where from titles such as ‘Cubs’, I felt the short film portrayed every emotion from the protagonist really well, not just through script but through expressions and movement especially with the last shot when the forth wall is broken and the protagonist stares straight at the camera, I used this same shot in confined in a different way but it also gave the same effect. A connection between characters and audience.

Another title ‘enough’ also shares the same cuts between shots as we used back and forth from fears and reality and it also influenced me when it came to the mugging scene, although edited slightly different the structure around that particular scene in our short film was influenced from the fighting scenes in ‘enough’. Enough was also the short film that showed just how important it is to make every shot count. Apart from short films I also got a lot of influence from other pieces of media, firstly the connection between the fear scenes and reality started through my eyes from the editing used to show peoples secrets in the feature length film unbreakable, when Bruce Willis was to touch a stranger in the film it would cut to a scene of that strangers darkest secrets using very different colour and atmosphere to the reality showing a clear contrast between the two.

Completed Short Film

In review of our final video project ‘short film’ I felt it was quite clear that we manage to create a strong piece that we set out to do from the very beginning but with clear areas which needed improving. I understood that for a short film project uniqueness for a storyline was key and therefore in pre production we settled on an ambitious storyline that the whole group felt was slightly out of our comfort zone.

Fortunately the group brought each of their key skills together which resulted in many strong factors to our final pieces. The strengths we felt our final short film had was firstly good use of edit and transitions between real time scenes of our protagonist confined to his room and the fear scenes of the strangers outside of his bedroom. We created this transition by split second cuts back and forth between shots to give it a glitchy feel, the effect was also enhanced along with the much different sounds of each shot jumping back and forth in a very unsmooth manner; the cuts were uncomfortably quick keeping the audience alert and on edge, we felt this would be the best way to deliver the common fears to the audience.

Another strong factor with editing was the way we portrayed time. By using jump shots of Sean around his room we was able to display the effect that he had been there for a lengthy amount of time and with the pace of the shots he was beginning to get bored, therefore asking the question why doesn’t he just leave his room and getting the message across that he can’t.

With filming I felt that majority of our shots were pretty strong, for instance the opening shots of the room showing Sean’s belongings lined up neatly portrayed the protagonists personality before the audience were even introduced to him, we also managed to explain the storyline through a flash back and a very well used voice message from a police officer to Sean, a backing story that may have taken a completely different scene and structure to explain was done in a time saving and more effective way by using this technique. Also strong shots such as the silhouette of Sean sitting on his bed and the sped up shot of the mugger punching him were set up well and memorable to the audience, we found this to be proven from fed back received from a questionnaire given to our target audience.

However as said before there are clear areas within our short film that needed improving. The most obvious of these when watching the short film back was the lighting in some key scenes, although nothing could have been done at the time it will be remembered that monitor screens show darker scenes to be brighter before exporting to projectors or televisions. The only other major flaw our short film had was storyline, not so much the storyline we had come up with but how we portrayed the story to the audience, after looking at fed back it was clear that up to a quarter of the audience didn’t understand the storyline and I believe with a change of structure this problem could have been solved, however as said from the beginning this was overall and ambitious storyline to go for which we felt in most parts we managed to reach.

Through pre production researched it was clear that short films have no real codes and conventions apart from duration, and our short film defiantly managed to stay under the allowed 50 minutes. We did however follow many codes and conventions of the genre of short film, drama. Firstly our protagonist, Sean was made so that the audience can relate to him and understand his state of mind, we also wanted the audience to feel the emotions he felt, this was done through the most obvious, acting and also music. The soft dramatic piano music throughout the piece (although arguably to long and continues) created the mood and atmosphere we was hoping for. The structure of the short film also followed convention of most film, short and feature length of equilibrium, disequilibrium followed by equilibrium, the beginning being slow and calm to then quick cuts between fear scenes and concluding with a calm decision of the protagonist to finally leave the room. One thing i also picked up on when studying short films was that due to the restrictions on time as much of the story as possible had to be told in each shot, i feel we also used this pattern with shots such as the opening panning shots to portray the protagonists personality as well as the flash back to the mugging scene.

I felt that each group member pulled their own weight in this project, maybe not in all the same areas but undoubtedly though out the whole project. My own individual contribution started in pre production by firstly concentrating on our protagonist and his personality, i started by giving his name and appearance by putting together clothes his would wear and a short paragraph on his background i also thought it would contrast to the weird and messy storyline that he has strange obsessions with neatness and clear signs of OCD. I then went on to create a short video with Niall on fears by interviewing members of the college, we edited the video together and it proved to be quite useful in our presentation to the class. Throughout the filming stages of the project I found myself doing a lot of organizing based on actors and props I also drove to collect members of the group, actors, props and taking us all to each individual location, although not a major part in media it was a necessity to our schedule for filming. When filming I took on board major shots that we needed for our short film such as filming, opening scenes, shots that were later used for jump cuts to show passing of time, close ups of Sean and mugging shots such as sped up punch from me punching the camera. I was also the actor for our mugger in the short film. During editing I structured the opening shots as well as our title, music was left to other members of the group so i made sure i edited some of our keys shots, for instance I put together majority of the shots which portrayed Sean being bored in the room (jump cuts) and not being able to leave the room, I also tweak speed in the shot of me punching Sean and contributed in bringing together the overall structure.

Friday, 5 February 2010

Convergene of technology

Short films are now using convergence of technology, gadgets such as Xbox 360, sky player and smart phones to showcase films. This is because majority of modern gadgets have the ability to access internet, use video players and have enough memory to store and play films. The company apple in particular are used to distribute short films on their products that use convergence of technology for instance a user of an IPhone is able to access Itunes where a number of short films are now being distributed via the use of WIFI internet connection, they can then use an online subscribed account to stream or download the video and exhibit the footage by the use of apple player. many other modern gadgets are now converging technology which s proving a useful way todistribute short films, they are eaier to access adbecome avalible to a diffrent audience eachtime those who may have no nerstanding or intrestin short films.

Thursday, 4 February 2010

This way up

This way up from javier cuello on Vimeo.

This way up is a short sweet 8 minute film about two funeral directors from different generations. The entire film uses no dialogue just sound and music to go with the situation and the expressions of the characters, the narrative is comedy based mainly surrounding slap stick and dark comedy with themes of death and hell portrayed in a humorous way. The two characters are father and son and the characteristic and personalities of each are delivered to the audience quite quickly, the father is very serious about his company and is a text book grumpy old man the son on the other half is very laid back, bored with his job and trying his hardest to make things more interesting. After collecting the coffin of an elderly woman the journey to the grave yard becomes problematic, firstly the car breaks down then the coffin is continuously swept away causing breaks and cracks on the coffin and exhausting the funeral directors, each situation is humorous in its own way but it is clear that each situation requires more team work which brings the pair closer and closer together, after the journey continues through hell and finally concludes with the pair successfully laying the body to rest the father looks to the son in what first seems to be disappointment but ends up to be with happiness, it is clear that even though this was the hardest and most exhausting day of work for the man it was also the most eventful and enjoyable, a job that can be considered depressing was ironically shown to be joyful and humorous and this was all down to his son, he hugs his son and smiles concluding the film with a feel good and happy ending. It is no surprise that the film is nominated for an Oscar, I found the film creative and like no other with an imaginative narrative.

Free cinema

Six short film documentaries were released in the 1950’s under the title of free cinema, a movement which was initially put together when founders Anderson and his friends Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson and Lorenza Mazzett attempted and failed to broadcast there films into the mainstream and decided to release there work in an alternative exhibition, a showcase at the t national film theatre. The documentaries were hugely popular with each showcase selling out and with a considerable amount of media attention, this proved that Anderson’s initial publicity stunt had paid off and resulted with an additional 5 films being released over the course of three years.

The movement titled ‘free cinema’ was described by the creator Anderson as “a reference to the films having been made free from the pressures of the box-office or the demands of propaganda”. I believe that Andersons movement was a brave step taken that allows short film to have the exhibition and distribution it has today, the step broadcasted the message that directing film should not be given to just those willing to follow the industries demands or follow the steps to assure box office figures, it should be a chance for all aspiring directors to showcase the work they are capable of, it is not fair that a piece of film doesn’t get the exhibition and recognition it deserves due to it not be allowed to showcase at industry owned cinemas.

Video Actvism

Video activism has become a channel for protesters and members of political groups to be able to film evidence supporting their views and expose it to the world with the use of portable video recording devices and common upload websites such as you tube. With portable video recording devices becoming a cheaper modern day piece of equipment and being used as a feature in many of today’s gadgets such as phones it seems common for people to use them to film and expose what they regard as wrong doing and illegal. Green peace, animal protection to cruelty groups, amnesty international, whale protection organizations are all groups that have been known to use video activism in some sense as an attempt to get a cross a message to a wider audience. Animal cruelty groups in particular have been known to go undercover at animal testing facilities and record the events and the testing going on inside, with quit disturbing footage it is clear that the view is intended to shock and anger its viewers into feeling the same way as the group about the issue or just to open their eyes about things they may choose to turn away from. Green peace and amnesty international take a more professional approach to video activism by commissioning specialist films and organizing film festivals that specialize in political short films.

Video activism has also been used to keep the police force in line, a force that through history has been known to act racist, use their power unfairly and commit police brutality finds themselves defenseless against video evidence one of the most popular and early cases of video activism would be the famous case of Rodney King. During the G20 summit that took place in London during 2009 video activism was taken into effect by one protester who mange to capture on tape the killing of one bystander by a policeman during an act of police brutality. This incident has changed the way police react in riot situations and the video evidence will assure the police force won’t make the same mistake again, proving in this case video activism to be beneficial.

I believe that video activism allows people to portray their views to a mass audience through film or video evidence, an audience which may usually turn away to a particular social or political issue will find themselves taking in the contents of a film, in some sense the footage can’t lie (unless it was set up which in turn would usually not have any real reaction from media or an audience) for instance at the G20 summit police may have faced the situation with a chance to explain their actions however the use of video activism did not give them a leg to stand on. Video activism in theory is propaganda with the intentions of the film being made to make an audience feel a certain way however I think film is one of the strongest tools for political and social groups to use to view their opinions and get across a message.

“A video camera has become one of those objects you pack for a protest.”
~Tish Stringer, Video Activist

Avant Garde

Avant Garde translated as ahead of the crowd was started during the 1950’s. Artist saw film as a new way to express creativity and art different from what was usually expected and therefore took a very different approach to film than the usual Hollywood features at the time. New ideas, forms, techniques and expressions were all factors experimented with to give Avant Garde the outlook of being ahead of its time and as artists the directors tended to concentrate more on lyrical, abstract and formal beauty of the film rather than conventional narrative and structure, somewhat mocking the common codes and conventions as we know it.

The artist Salvade Dali and director Luis Bunel were the minds behind one of the first ever Avant Garde films ‘Un Chein Andalou”. The 16 minute surreal short film holds no real narrative or plot of any kind, the opening of the film mocks common story telling narratives with the words ‘once upon a time’ and later goes on to jump from shot to shot in a dreamed sensed sequence with effective use of fade shots, the film follows a series of surreal situations such as ants crawling out of the palm of a mans hand and a women’s eye being sliced open by a razor. For me the only ideas I can make from the film is to go totally against common film conventions and like most Avant Garde forms it’s used to create a surreal and particularly uncomfortable piece of art.

Meshs of the afternoon is a short Avant Gard film directed by Maya Deren and Alexandra Hammid, once again the film focuses on surrealism and has strong resemblance to dreams with key objects within the film have symbolic relations to Physiology. I feel this Avant Gard films carries more of a narrative than other Avant Gard films but still feels very loose in comparison to feature length holly wood films. The narrative has been described by Maya Deren as a film “concerned with the interior experiences of an individual. It does not record an event which could be witnessed by other persons. Rather, it reproduces the way in which the subconscious of an individual will develop, interpret and elaborate an apparently simple and casual incident into a critical emotional experience”

Pixar Shorts

Much like short films are used to experiment camera shots and techniques which may later be used in feature lengths Pixar’s short films are used to experiment with the technology to push boundaries of 3d animation and to create features they would later like to se in their feature length films. Before each Pixar feature length animation film they create a short film, this short films are show cased at conferences and are usually played before the feature length at cinemas, they also are commonly given as an extra with the DVD. The short films last duration of a few minutes and are usually a narrative based around comedy and creativity, using humorous characters and slapstick comedy has proved the short films to be hugely popular and also helps market the feature length film. the series of short films has also been put together by Pixar to create a compilation DVD which was released in 2007. I was surprised to see that animation use short films in the same way that film uses short film to experiment with the technology and creativity they have and it just goes to prove the original intentions from short film can defiantly make a difference to the industry.

Partly cloudy is a 6 minute short animated film that was released alongside Pixar’s 2009 box office hit ‘UP’, initially used to experiment with cloud animations and the movement of flight with new 3d technology. The imaginative narrative follows the story of a cloud that isn’t very good at his job of creating baby animals that a stork later takes down to an expecting family, following the innocent story usually given to children to explain how babies are made. An unlikely relationship develops between the cloud and the stork and like most Pixar films the short ends happily.

Partly Cloudy from Bruna Wretzky on Vimeo.

Cubs

Cubs is a 10 minute short film directed by tom Harper, the location is based in south London and the story takes place on a council estate and the urban surroundings, from the beginning strong connotations of London gang culture is used via clothes and dialogue although the storyline holds a different narrative and plot to what the audience might think. The synopsis of the film says “A boy tries to join a gang of inner-city kids, but learns that initiation comes at a price” and other viewers may see it as filming the issue of gang culture in another perspective but I believe the director held more meaning for the film than just that by directing the film towards class and mob mentality.

The film starts off with the protagonist Ben sitting anticipating something to happen, at this point the audience are unaware of what it could be. Whilst waiting a girl sitting next to Ben claims she is cold and we see kind characteristics from Ben as he offers his gloves, I think this opening moment is key as it shows the characteristics and feelings towards Ben that are lost due to his later actions. The film continues and conversation about being selected between the pair starts, the audience still in the dark about what it is being anticipated may be drawn towards the idea of being selected in to a team as football is being played in the background but later shots of the character Karl, an older character wearing fashionable street wear and portrayed as being very respected walking into the playground will later change the audiences views to being selected into a gang. Everybody in the playground gathers into a neat group with Karl’s presence including Ben and his friend, a few of the group try to communicate with Karl but all greetings are thrown back with abuse that is all except Bens which instead is responded with a nod. This shows that they may have background a relationship unknown yet. After Karl selects the biggest male of the group he walks back out of the playground with the boy looking surprised and happy with being selected, Ben stands disappointed and snaps at his friend as she says ”told you he wouldn’t pick us” but decides to take matters into his own hands, he peruses Karl and calls him with Karl’s reaction being the same abusive reply “What!” that is until he realises who it is, then his mood changes therefore proving the fact that there is a back story between the pair. Ben asks for another chance to be accepted and surprisingly Karl says yes.
The second part of the film is shot at night, as the sun settles things for the gang become more interesting with the group growing bigger and bigger and drugs and alcohol being consumed, along with the overheard conversation it is quite clear that the gang are preparing for something and are building g up excitement, here the anticipation from the beginning comes back. Karl joins the gang with two fierce pit bulls and approaches Ben handing him a weapon and saying “make sure you don’t get nicked like your brother”, revealing the relationship between the pair, Karl was Bens brothers close friend. Soon the gang regroup as one and the leader Karl shouts “let’s go hunting as he fires a pistol” the gang’s plans become clear as they head through the woods, they are participating in a new urban sport...fox hunting. This point of the short film change the message behind the film completely for me, giving reason and metaphors to the title and making the film much about class as about gangs. Through my eyes this is fox hunting, a sport which after huge debate and protesting was made illegal being participated in by the opposite class to whom started it the lower and working class. Exchanging horses for bikes, hounds for pit bulls and rifles for cricket bats and pistols the gang pursue a fox through urban surroundings with quick camera cuts and movement along with both tension building digetic and non digetic sound being used to change the pace of the film and raise the tempo. When the fox is first caught at a dead end Ben misses the chance to kill it provoking the rest of the group especially Karl, the group carry on searching and Ben once again spots the fox this time for a few seconds the fox and Ben exchange glances and we can tell from facial expressions that Ben is debating in his head whether or not to inform the rest of the group, with the mob mentality and adrenaline from the chase still running through Bens body he yells “this way come quick” and the pursuit continues this time resulting with the fox being violently attacked by the pit bulls, as the dogs are pulled away and the fox is crippled Karl hands Ben the gun, at this point it is less adrenaline and more peer pressure making bens decisions for him, the only one not edging him on is his friend she silently stands next to Ben clearly realising this is wrong. Once again sound and shots speed up till Ben closes his eyes and pulls the trigger making a difficult but purposeful decision.

The final shots of the film first see Bens friend returning the gloves he gave her at the beginning and leaving due to seeing a side to Ben she did not like, the second shows Ben being accepted into the gang, after congratulated for the killing he stands looking down at the ground coming to terms with the actions he has just committed, the crowds voices drown out and Ben faces to the camera breaking the fourth wall and maintain a strong eye connection with the audience. I found this shot to be particularly powerful and for me concluded a story in which asked its audience at what class does fox hunting become okay, whether on bikes or horses with guns or cricket bats it is still the same sport, the same mob mentality, the same moral.

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Production Exhibiton and Distribution

Just like mainstream film short films follow the structure of production, exhibition and distribution however due to low budgets and niche audience these stages are followed a much different way.

Production
Directors will find it much easier to find a production company to produce their short film rather than say a feature length, this is due to the lower budget yet more professional film production, this is why there are many production companies that specialize is short films (once again short films code and convention of low budget benefits the industry).
One company that has gained a reputation for high quality short films is a production company named ‘silver films’. The shorts About a girl and Endgame have both been produced by this company. Another production company by the name of ‘Cow boy Films’ that originally specialises in feature lengths such as The last king of Scotland was the company behind the award winning short film Wasp. The production company behind the Short film ‘cubs’ is a company called Free Range Films, the company has been described as ‘sometimes serious, sometimes fun but always thought provoking’. The company is based in England and has produced only English films, although mainly producing feature lengths such as straight heads and history boys the company also takes time out to produce short films. It is very rare a production company will focus just on short films.

Exhibition
Where mainstream feature length films are generally exhibited in cinemas, with large cinema chain deals and with a huge marketing budgets short films are generally only exhibited at film festivals with the awards from the film festivals being the only real marketing tool a short film will get. It is very rare that short film will ever be exhibited in a cinema. Due to film festivals being the only real exhibition for short films directors are making sure their work will be noticed by film festival organizers by making it as different and as creative as everything else out there, directors will also generally begin by targeting smaller festival with their work and using awards from those festivals as a factor to be recognized by larger festivals.

Distribution
Distribution is mainly where the money is at for mainstream films, after box office sales, DVD and merchandise sales is where the profit is made, due to desire for recognition over profit by short film directors the lack of any kind of profitable distribution in short film does not pose any threat to the industry. Where there is some proof of short film collection DVD sales rising majority of short film distribution is through online websites such as YouTube. There are some sites which specialise in distribution of short films such as Depict! A site that showcases only short films less than 90 seconds, the site can be used by any member of the public and the site is recognized by more professional directors and festival organizers. Another site specialized with short film distribution is the BBC Network, based on specifically British short films the site has hundreds of short films opened to any member of the public divided into the categories animation, artist moving image, music, drama comedy and documentary.

History of Film Continued

After the inventors of film, experimental directors and artist using film as part of Avant Garde the next group of people to use short film as a channel to express emotions and to get across a message to a wider audience were activists. Feminists, Green peace, animal rights and other activist groups used film to showcase effective footage which carries a message with hope that they will change its audience’s perspective on the relevant political subject. Towards modern time short film uses all of the previous techniques and with no written codes and conventions or required budget anyone can write and direct a short film. Nowadays I believe short films use some if not all of the factors short film has gained and used to evolve since the beginning of film, modern day directors and aspiring directors experiment with short film to showcase new and exciting concepts with as much creativity as possible much like Avant Guarde and classic shorts directed by Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese were used to experiment with film. Many modern day shorts also tackle social and political issues with the contents of their short films a technique foreseen by video activism.

From the history of short film I think it is clear that the short film industry has evolved rapidly much like other aspects of film media however in my view short film is slightly ahead of mainstream/ feature length film this is down to the lack of constraints that mainstream films are tied back by and also believe that mainstream film relies on the short film industry for its technology and creativity, many ideas, shots and techniques used in feature length film today originally started from short films and therefore as long as there is film there will be short film to inevitably push the boundaries of the industry.

Monday, 1 February 2010

Directors

Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunninghamm was born in Reading in 1970 and is recognized for his sinister creativity in directing. Initially prenound for his music videos Chris has also worked on commercials short film and photography and is the genius mind behind the short film “rubber johnny” originally a music video for Aphex Twin. Chris started his career building animatronic robot arms and sculpting caricatures for films such as Alien 3, Judge Dread and A.I although it wasn't long before Chris decided to peruse his own careers in directing. His initial directing started with music videos working with names such as Madonna and Bajork which result with Chris winning an MTV music video award for best breakthrough video and a nominee for a Grammy award for best short form music video. Chris also worked on television commercials with named brands such as PlayStation, Levis, Nissan and Orange.

2005 saw the release of one of Chris’s most famous work “Rubber Johnny”, described as “a Looney Tunes short for a generation raised on video nasties and rave music" the 6 minute short film shot in DV night vision see’s a servely disabled man being firstly interviewed before being left alone where he raves out to a soundtrack by Aphex Twins. The experimental piece was shot in Chris’s basement where it took over three years to make. The final long version edit was released in 2005.

Shane Meadows

Shane meadows first encounters with the world of film was in 1994 where he began working for a film and video company for free in exchange for lending of recording equipment. Shane put the borrowed equipment to use by filming short films with the help of family and friends but with no way to exhibited the work his friends set up a local event title at the time as “six of the best” where his work was exhibited along with other locals short films, today the same event is known as “Flip side” and is a recognized film festival held at Plymouth every year. Shane Meadows first short films where created in 1994 with the film “where’s the money Ronnie” giving Shane the recognition he needed to be bumped up the media ladder and have the ability and resources to make more films. A documentary based short film made in 1995 named “king of the gypsies” was based around Bartly Gorham; an infamous bare knuckle boxer in the gypsy society was Shane’s first work to be broadcasted on television, I feel the documentary shone light on to a world unknown or stereotyped and portrayed as a strong family based society that depend on one another and believe strongly in honour, love and family rather than the low life’s gypsies are portrayed as in other media. Whilst still directing short films Shane went on to make feature lengths in 1997 with “Twenty four seven”, one of the most popular feature lengths directed by Shane Meadows is the film”this is England”. From all of Shanes work it is clear that he uses common themes of crime, violence and common issues all surrounding working class families.

Shane meadows in my eyes is someone that portrays what film is all about, it isn’t about the extremely high budget, all star cast or box office figures it’s about being able to create something from nothing and using the resources you have to create exactly what you want. This idea is shown with the short film “the stairway” a 15 second short filmed with just an Iphone, Shane was also recorded in one interview saying that he filmed the entire feature length “Dead men’s shoes” with nothing more than a camera and tripod. In the same interview Shane claims that all his work is improvised meaning he doesn’t use scripts, a factor that is key when asking major distributers to fund a film, in his own words “my dream is to be able to create feature lengths without scripts”. I think Shane is a director the industry needs more of, not someone who moulds their ideas around the industry and limits their creativity to the distributors requirements, but someone who plans and shoots exactly what they want resulting with award winning films such as “This is England” and “Dead man’s shoes”. Shane Meadows is living proof that anyone with enough enthusiasm and love for film can make it in the world of media.

Thursday, 28 January 2010

Enough

Enough from Tor Kristoffersen on Vimeo.

“Enough” is a 90 second dramatic short directed by Tor Kristoffersen. The piece was awarded shortlist 2008 winner on Depict! A website specialised in ultra short films, films that last under 90 seconds. The short is based around the subject of knife crime an issue found in headlines every week in Britain. With ultra shorts each shot must tell as much of the story as possible due to the duration and I feel this piece works with them constraints better than most others from the website.

The film starts with a shot of a middle aged man awoken by the sound of youths outside his front door, we are then shown these youths who in a gang are viciously attacking another youth, the shot then jumps back to the man who we now see is clutching a glass of alcohol, with the time of day shown to the audience with use of sunlight through the window it is visibly clear that the man is an alcoholic. The shots then cut quickly from the man to the gang until the man approaches the youths and the gang decided to run. After attempting to help the victim the shot returns to the man’s house where he opens a suitcase containing a police officer’s uniform and a baton this shot, after clutching the baton the camera cuts to a school picture of a young boy, the audience are expected to put two and two together that the victim beaten by the gang was possibly his son or his son was a victim to previous knife crime from the gang. In just a limited amount of shots a quit complex story is explained by the contents of each shot. The man lost his son to knife crime which result in him picking up a drinking problem this later caused him being fired from the force and all the while having to live on a street where gang culture is popular, reminding him of his loses every day. At the point where the coin drops and the audience put together the shots to work out the story the words Enough appear on the screen and the man decides to peruse the gang after finding them he approaches the one carrying the knife at the beginning and threatens him with the baton whilst repeatedly asking for the knife, the camera shots speed up as the confrontation takes place to go with the confusion, anger and frustration of the situation, soon enough a close up shows one of the gang stabbing the man and as he falls to the ground the gang run much like the fight at the start of the film however this time the boy being confronted doesn’t run he stands still before assisting the man and shouting dad, this is when the tables turn and the story the audience thought they had cleverly put together gets quickly diverted, whilst the audience are still shocked and realise the man was not suffering a loss but frustration and misery his once young son is now part of a gang and carrying a knife the sounds of the cries for help slowly fade out as the picture turns to black. I think this piece proves that with the right shots and contents even a 90 second film can carry a complex story and can pack a powerful punch with a smart twist.

Short Film Festivals

For short films there is no red carpet premiere, there is no huge budget marketing, actor’s interviews on day time TV or huge distribution to the largest cinema chains in the world. Opposed to feature length Hollywood films the recognition, reviews and awards given to short film all come from short film festivals. There are many film festivals around the world each specialise in different genres, some festivals maybe target towards more professional directors where some are directed towards amateur and aspiring directors either way the showcase, nomination and award for a short film are what the directors are hoping for, there is hardly ever a large cash prize and instead of the awards being seen to help market and boost sales of the film like an Oscar would boost the sales of a new Hollywood blockbuster. In a short films case an award from a short film festival would boost the recognition of the director, the award would open new doors for them and those who have won awards at amateur film festivals may later go on to enter professional short film awards. This is why short film is seen as a step for aspiring directors to make their way up the ladder in the film making industry.
Here are some of the festivals that take place around the world.

Sundance
Sundance is a short film festival located in Utah, America that runs from the 21st to the 31st of January. The festival started back in 1978 and is now acclaimed as the largest independent film festival in the USA, the festival was created as an attempt to attract more film makers to Utah; they also wanted to highlight potential of what independent film could be. The festival is divided into two main categories American and international, within these categories the festival concentrates on dramatic and documentary short films.

Encounters
Encounters originally started in 1995 as a one off festival to celebrate 100 years of cinema but due to the festival being so popular it has taken place every year between 17-21 November leading up to now. The festival is British and is based in Bristol, it is also open for anyone to enter, that’s not say that it will instantly go through as each video is watched then decided on whether to showcase at the festival or not. There are many animation shorts broadcasted at the festival but other categories do consist of comedy, music videos and documentaries.

Tuesday, 26 January 2010

History of short films

There is debate that the first short film or first film for that matter was created by Thomas Edison the inventor of the light bulb who used a series of photographs in a device known as a kineticscope however the piece was never publicly displayed. Most class the lumiere brothers “la sortie d l’uise a lyon” as the first film, a piece created four years after Thomas Edison’s creation filmed with the worlds first video camera. The camera itself was created using highly sensitive photographic plates. La sortie d l’uise a lyon translated as the workers leaving the factory ran for 47 seconds and filmed a single static shot of literally workers leaving a factory, as basic as the piece sounds now at the time was a milestone in the history of media. The first collection of short films at the time where not classed as shorts until feature lengths were first created and the media industry saw the birth of Hollywood.

The birth of Hollywood saw feature length films become the centre o the film industry. The use of arranged sequences and having scenes put together proved to be very popular and as a market opened for films feature lengths were rapidly being produced and distributed and Hollywood grew with 5 major film companies growing with it, in result Hollywood created film genres, codes and conventions and studio systems. However this brought and ended to what was previously known as short film and from the 1930’s onward short film had rare activity until Hollywood brought short film back into the picture. Hollywood decided to use short film as a channel to experiment with narrative, shots, camera movement and sound with minimal financial budget and therefore far less risks. Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas were just two of the directors used for this specific work creating shorts such as the Big Shave by Martin Scorsese a piece the experimented with blood and gore as a man repeatedly shaves away at his face the same concept was mimicked by many classical films which if not for the experimentation of Martin Scorsese wouldn’t have been able to make, or not for a longer period anyway. Short film also underwent the taking to Avant Garde a phrase translated as art house film, these films where directed by people who couldn’t find there style fitting in with Hollywood or the mainstream and as artists they were full of creativity and artistic outlook and decided to use film to experiment with their concepts and ideas. One of the most famous case studies of Avant Garde film is a short titled “The Burning Horse” directed by Maya Deren.

Friday, 22 January 2010

Two cars one night

Two cars one night is directed by Taika Waititi and follows the story of 3 young children in new Zealand waiting in a car park for their parents to return, the narrative of the short shows an unlikely relationship build between the main protagonist and a girl who is also waiting in the car park. the video has been described as a tale of first love that sees a relationship that is first based on rivalry develop in to freindship. we learn that love can be found in the most unlikely places.

The film starts with a shot of two boys sitting in the front of car looking bored, whilst one reads the other looks on at the pub they are park in front of waiting to see his parents return. The director shows that the two boys have been waiting a long duration for their parents return by speeding up footage of cars entering and exiting the car park, this also helps to portray the state of mind of the two boys as well as the lack of sound and the use of black and white. There is no sound, no music, no conversation just the sound of the cars moving along as the adults enter the pub whilst the boys are stuck waiting, the black and white makes the picture very dull unlike the colourful worlds children are usually focused in. I think it is clear that the director is trying to portray the dull and boring situation that we have all encountered at some point in our child hood, waiting for parents to return to the car whilst we try our hardest to find ways to kill the time. A few seconds later a car pulls up alongside Ed’s car, the adults exit the car leaving Polly in the same situation as Romeo and his brother Ed, there is a short moment where Romeo and the girl exchange glances then they both return to the world of their individual cars. The next part shows the personalities of both the brothers and the contrasts between those personalities, our protagonist Romeo comes across as a fidget and being loud both characteristics of someone who is annoying and immature. His younger brother Ed on the other hand is very calm and quiet, as Ed is pretending to drive the car and make loud car sounds his younger brother sits in quiet and reads this is the opposite to what most people may expect as the younger sibling is usually the less mature one. At this point I think that Romeo is using his methods of killing time to also get the attention of the girl who gazes on at their car who has also become bored very quickly whilst waiting for her parents and after Ed’s brother states that she is starring Romeo makes contact the only way a 9 year old boy knows how to especially to a girl, by being rude. After already mocking her and telling her not to look at him as her face may wreck the car he attempts to start a conversation by saying “oi ugly”, after Polly shows no reaction to Romeo’s annoying behaviour he gives up and to our a surprise after a short silence Polly unexpectedly retaliates by shouting back “oi dick” her banter continues until Romeo finally retaliates making clear she won the argument the two found themselves in. The silence then continues this time showing Polly trying to kill time by fiddling with the cars mirror and watching smokers exit and enter the pub, here the director speeds up the footage again but uses a technique in which the light from the cigarettes remains leaving a scribble of light through the eyes of Polly. When an elderly cyclist approaches the cars, whilst Polly winds up her window in fear Ed remains his cool by leaving it open and nodding at the cyclist. Romeo soon exits his car and scares Polly by creeping up on her, he starts conversation but this time tries to impress Polly instead of mock her, he starts by pretending he can drive and then attempts to prove the point by asking his brother, here it is clear that Ed is used to his annoying brothers behaviour by simply saying no and keeping his answers short whilst he concentrates on his book, even when Romeo begins calling him gay he shows no interest and replies “probably”. The conversation is really light hearted and sweet with humorous lines and behaviour. After attempting to impress Polly Romeo goes on to compliment her by being impressed by her ring, here I believe the story has shown development of attraction and interaction, at early years males show affection to females by being rude and it is known that when a boy is horrible to a girl it is a sign that he likes her. Later years maybe teen and up attempts to impress girls are on males agenda when it comes to attraction, lies or dramatised truths are used to impress a girl into being attracted to you where as in the end most males learn that the strongest way to attract a girl is to make them happy and the most effective way to do this is by complimenting them, in this case Romeo is complimenting the beauty of Polly’s ring, a ring that is later given to Romeo when Polly’s parents return to the car, when Romeo asks why Polly says “so you remember me” concluding of what started as rivalry as a friendship or first love.

Codes and conventions of short films

Short film can be described as a channel of media that has no boundaries and therefore can concentrate on the creativity of the piece rather than its story or cast, this is why it is used by many aspiring directors to portray their style and creativity. Unlike all other aspects of media short film has no unwritten codes and conventions, there is no necessary structure or common themes which results in my eyes as a blank canvas where a director can create anything he or she wishes. Short films pronoun low budgets and niche audience prove this point further this is because the director has no target audience to please and is not loaning or paying large sums with the expectations of making a profit from the short film. The only real code and convention found with short films is what defines it as a short film, its duration. The short film must be under 50 minutes anything other would be classed as a feature film; this isn’t to say the piece should last the whole 50 minutes and most only last between 5 – 20 minutes. The unique aspect of short films (the lack of codes and conventions) can also be seen by some as a downside to short films this is because in theory it is possible for anyone to make short film and can therefore take away the creativity and uniqueness that goes in to short film by those who create more commercial pieces or create pieces with mainstream themes.