RESEARCH: FILL ME IN

Through researching current successful short films it allows me to understand and witness the codes and conventions necessary for a short film. Therefore, I have researched into the short film Fill Me In.

Fill me in:   Writer / Producer - Gus Miller, Director / Editor / Script Development / Producer - Sebastian Thiel.
The key concept of this film is that everything is appears different depending on the perspective who's perspective it is. All the footage is filmed on a hand held camera and is all point of view shot. This enables the viewer to see the story of the film through the eyes (viewpoint) of the character. The film repeats itself twice, both times showing the narrative in different perspectives. The first time we watch the mans day from his perspective, with him narrating what he is doing. However, parts of sentences and footage are cut out. This therefore makes the viewer see the situation negatively and think the mans in the wrong. 

This is the sort of editing used to cut out certain footage and words

The first half of the film ends with the man saying "I know your probably thinking i'm wild but thats a true story, tell me what you think of me now?" This makes the viewer make a decision about what they think was going on. It then plays for a second time filling in the missing speech and footage. This is when the viewer realises what they originally thought is not true and so after watching it through again he repeates "I know your probably thinking i'm wild but thats a true story, tell me what you think of me now?" as a result of the second viewing the audience is forced to rethink there previous assumption.This highlights to the viewer how important perspective is and getting the whole story is before you jump to conclusions.

RESEARCH: FILM FESTIVALS

Short Film Festivals (such as The London Short Film Festival, Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival at The Watershed Bristol)

London Short Film Festival:

• This is an annual event which presents the best in UK short film making talent. 
• It takes place in London's best independant cinemas and venues

Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival at The Watershed Bristol:

• The festival began life at Watershed Media Centre in 1995 as Brief Encounters.
• It expanded yearly to eventually include Animation Encounters which is dedicated to short animated films.
• Encounters collaborated with Watershed Media Centre throughout the festival's 17 years.
• Both the festival and the venue seek to promote the short form as a way to develop and progress the new film and animation makers.

RESEARCH: LIFE IN A DAY: RIDLEY SCOTT

As part of our researcg into the short film genre, we studied Ridley Scott's Life in a Day (dir. Kevin McDonald, 2011) from an artistic and institutional point of view.

• It is a striking example of a crowd-sourced film as it results from Ridley Scott's invitation to people around the world to contribute video taken on one single day, 24th July 2010 
• Convergence (coming together of different technologies in one platform) was used in the production practices of this film. 
• Consumers no longer just consume but they also produce. This film only had the capability of being made recently due to the advances of technology and the ease of recording and sharing videos.
• The film "couldn't have been made without technology. Ten years ago it wou;'ve been impossible" (Joe Walker, date July 29th 2011) 
• This film shows the trend of consumers as producers which technologies such as Web 2.0 have enabled. 
• This illustrates what Wesch calls 'participatory culture' as this video explains.

 

• This film debuted at Sundance Film Festival then was distributed straight to youtube, free of charge for anyone to watch. However, P&A was conventional in the form of film posters. 

RESEARCH: DIRECTORS LABEL AND CINEMA 16

Directors Label is a collection of DVD's which include short films, music videos and video art. The series combines the work of directors Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze and Michael Gondry. It is a different way other than film festivals for short films to reach audiences.

Cinema 16 is a DVD on which Luke Morris (director) collected a variety of British, European and American directors works. The DVD had huge popularity selling 5000 copies in first 12 months on sale.

RESEARCH: PIKTOCHART CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF SHORT FILMS

RESEARCH: CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF SHORT FILMS

Research for my Pikto chart on short films

Short films have a limited number of characters - normally 1-3.

Short films usually contain a twist. 

Short films are typically low budget because their producers are usually independent. 

Short films are typically 5-10 minutes. Not feature length films. 

(Example)

Many short films take an everyday situation and flip it into a different way. 

Todorov's theory of narrative. Equilibrium. Disequilibrium. New equilibrium. 

Short films are can be a product in their own right and often showcase a director's talent. Short films can also be used to propose an idea for a movie to a producer

Short films are shown in film festivals or through the internet

Used to promote different events such as charity event

Began in 1910s mostly comedy's either animated or live action but fell out of favour until the 1950s withe the rise of charlie Chaplin. Pixar and and Disney have made a couple of short films in the recent times; eg. For The Birds. Geri's Game and The Lamp

Hirsute - A.J Bond 2007

This short played at over 50 film festivals. 

Won 9 festival prizes 

It features a young time traveler who is confronted by an arrogant and hairless future version of himself. 

The Black Hole

Connected - Christensen 2009

Lux Deluxe

Heartwork - 2011

Signs

Mortal Kombat Rebirth - video game adaptation 

The Alienist