Short Film - Idea's

The main focus and thought for my products are those based around morals and important issues that humanity can face. One of these is the concept of choice. Choices are made constantly throughout life and can be difficult and highly important as well as simple and unconsciously done. Consequences and outcomes are not often considered or portrayed, which could become an interesting concept for a short film. Using this as an idea would mean that the short film would relevant for a wide audience and could feature in a variety of genres and styles. Due to the fact that decisions are made all of them time, its importance is timeless and relevant to almost everyone.

Another Idea I have at the moment is of innocence and childhood, in the theme of nursery rhymes and lullabies. These methods of delivering warnings and comforting children are commonly found and make up the basis of the interest in music, reading and comfort of many people's lives. These concepts could easily be manipulated or changed to become threatening or callous in nature and could be interesting to see the uses they could have in changing the perception of the world children have.

Preliminary Research - "Intangible" - Short Film Analysis

- Part One


-Part Two

The basic plot outline of the short film "Intangible" is that the character of Billy, portrayed by Arthur Darvill, believes that the most important people in his life are replications. He carries out an experiment to test his theory, while his psychiatrist believes him to be suffering from a serious delusion. The film opens to Billy on a trip to the bathroom before shaving himself, a regular activity that conveys to the audience his normality in the strange unsettling camera and editing work of the beginning. By portraying his normally to the audience, it allows them to connect with him and empathise with him. In doing this it makes his opinion about the doubles more believable. By cutting himself on the cheek and the camera filming a close up it adds emphasis on what could be described as a normal action for the process. A quick cut is used into the next scene, of Billy and his psychiatrist. The location is white, clinical and professional, contrasting with the only other location of the film, Billy's home which is cluttered and has a darker filter on it.

In these scenes, character development and narrative are progressed by the dialogue of Billy. Billy explains to his therapist that his mother had a cut on her finger (scar) one day and that it was gone the next. The use of close ups and over the shoulder shots, help to portray that this character is key and important as is the dialogue being spoken. The tone of voice, the fact he is a well spoken character, with intellectual abilities is also important in his story being believable. Dialogue is also used as a tool, to convey the theme and message to the audience. The fact he corrects the psychologist reinforces this. The dialogue used throughout, such as him knowing the "destroyer of worlds" also help to present him as a slightly mad and a deranged character. The artistic nature of the film is also conveyed by the close up shots of Billy, cleaning a paintbrush in water, covering his brush in paint and finally by painting on his girlfriend. These a visual representation of what is an important concept of the film. The variants on normal social behaviour, such as clearing up and moving from room to room, are small but significant representations about the characters mental state. The accident that apparently causes these delusions is uncovered again through the dialogue of the counselling sessions.

The use of the varied camera recordings taken by the therapist is another technique used in order to vary the method in which the audience uncovers information about Billy and his life, but it also helps to support a claim about being watched, paranoia that unsettles the audience and makes the question the character of Billy.

By showing the removal of the painting on Anna's (The Girlfriends) shoulder it leaves a questionable feature to the audience about whether it’s really happening or it’s just Billy's perception of the situation. The use of the voice over at the end of the film, creates a believable and closed ending to the story, bringing in a calm collect voice, makes a final and serious ending to the film and the existence of Billy but also still questions the mental state of the character. This ending leaves questions that are not answered and representing pity or fear of the character of Billy. Creating this impact and leaving these questions, makes the theme of the short film more memorable.

During the film, a variety of techniques are used in order to make the film as interesting as possible and to convey as much information as needed to make the film a success. It also uses a variety of aspects and features found in Short Films. The use of only a small number of locations and the small number of characters is important. The creative and imaginative style in which the theme is conveyed is also another feature. One of the most significant is the way in which the narrative is moved forward by dialogue and the narrative is portrayed by imagery on screen is vital to the film and its audience.

Preliminary Research - Examples of the variety of Short Films

"Highgate House of Horror" - The League of Gentlemen.

The first part of "The League of Gentlemen" short film titled "Highgate House of Horror". This is an example of short films being used by a production crew and writers who have worked on previous media items before; they also have production and acting experience. This short film is around thirty minutes in length, but still completes the frame needed by a short film. The short film focuses strongly upon the narrative and the location. It is based upon the strong emotion of fear and the destructive and criminal actions that humans can be persuaded into, all be it through the use of comedy.

The Black Hole - Phil and Olly

"The Black Hole" - Future Shorts - Phil and Olly - Virgin Media Shorts Grand prize winner 2008. This short film is based upon, the moral of greed. The main character is punished ultimately for the greed he possesses at the end of the film. The use of humour and the creative and imaginative plot, allow for the audience of the film to remain interested and to help put the message across. Creativity is an important aspect of this film. It conveys and important message in an unusual method; a black hole is not liable to be found in a photocopying machine. It keeps to the conventions shown by these productions, such as one main character and non varying locations.

The Life and Death of a Pumpkin - Blame Society Productions

"The Life and Death of a Pumpkin" - Winner of Best Short Film and Best Concept at Chicago Horror Film Festival 2006. It uses the pumpkins point of view in order to connote to the audience, the unusual perspective of how it feels about being stolen and the mutilated in order for it be made into a lantern for Halloween. The narrative and the theme's of this short film are important as it personifies the pumpkin and gives details about human emotions that could be complex and difficult to convey otherwise. Another important aspect is the creative imagery used and the artistic camera work throughout, in order to make it, unique, interesting and thought provoking.

Preliminary Research - What is a Short Film?

A short film has a variety of factors that classify a product under this category. One of the most important and recognisable traits of a short film is the fact that the narrative is used to convey an important theme or message to the audience. An example of this is the short film "The Black Hole" in which the theme of greed is portrayed and the negative connotations that can occur by it being present are shown. Short films encourage those in the process of them to convey creativity instead of using the conventions used by full length feature films. Short films have the ability to use a variety of contexts and idea's in them, no matter how unusual or imaginative. Visual imagery is a strong feature of a short film, again linking back to the theme of creativity.

They help to tell stories and are often produced by individual groups instead of professionals. They tend to have only a small variety of locations and do not have an extremely vast budget. The focus of the film is often one or two characters and long introductions to their lives and situations are not normally a given. The length of these films often varies, and can be as short as one minute long and as long as thirty minutes. Short films also have the ability to convey a narrative by image and locations instead of the story being conveyed step by step. They often tell stories and contain strong morals but are often used to "push boundaries" and to convey ideas and concepts that are not often portrayed in mainstream cinema. Short Films are to focus upon the imagery, creativity and theme of the film and to convey this to the audience.

Brief - Short Film

The brief that I am considering undertaking is that of the short film and the other two products needed to accompany this; the two I have decided upon are the Radio Trailer and the Poster. The reason behind my decision is that, this brief offers a large range of creative freedom, due to the fact that short films are able to push boundaries and are able to convey strong ideas and moral beliefs to the audience, in a format not often seen in professional films. The short film brief also offers a wide range of choices and decisions to be made at various levels because the genre is not set.

The other two tasks which I am deciding upon is the radio trailer for the film and the poster. The radio trailer allows for various different features and skills to be used as it requires more precision in content and choices in order for it to represent and convey the film successfully. The film poster allows me to use other programmes and skills in order to construct a high quality product, as well as conveying how important colour, typography and imagery are in constructing the film to an audience. The main reason for my consideration of this brief, is the fact that it encourages the use of imagery and imagination of those involved in the production of the short film and the audience that watch it