Goods and Bads of a Short

The time limit:

This can have benefits and drawbacks. Making a feature film into a Short would be very difficult and probably not work well but a simple story could fit very well into the time limit. The short length means that less work is required and usually a much smaller budget which means that it is well suited to beginner or student film makers as well as Hollywood stars. However because they are short most of the public won't pay to see them as they are used to paying to watch 2 hour films so feel like they are getting a bad deal. So they usually aren't made with the idea of making money in mind.

The audience:

Shorts actually have a huge range of audiences. For example a Short could be aimed at the arthouse audience and shown during a Short film night or at a festival whereas they could also be uploaded to youtube and aimed at a mainstream audience. As you can upload it to youtube easily this means that most your audience will be able to view it easily for free which is a big benefit as they are more likely to watch it.

The ideas:

You can usually be more risky or bring up taboo topics in a short film as the low budget means that there is less risk. It is also much easier to keep the audiences interest for the short time so in a way it is easier to make a good Short compared to a feature film. However the shorter time does mean that complicated ideas usually won't work as well when made for a Short. It is also a good way of testing new ideas to see if the public like them before using them in a feature film.

Starting Ideas for my Short

Idea 1 (4 in a house)

Plot:

4 people live in a house but are banned from talking to each other so they all go about the day acting as if the others don't exist. They have no contact to the outside world and can't get out of the house. Each night one of them has a dream where a person they don't know dies. One day one of the people in the house doesn't wake up, the others go about their day and ignore this. The next day another person doesn't wake up but the 2 awake ignore this and start their day. One of the remaining 2 accidentally opens the door to one of the peoples rooms. They see a dead body the same as how the person in their dream died. They check the other room and the same as happened. As they can't get out or contact anyone they decide to carry on living as if nothing happened. That night they both stay awake and thinking the other will try to kill them arms themselves. They both bump into each other and assume the others attacking them so kill each other. 

Then the screen goes dark and after a slight pause a huge round of applause sounds and someone switches a light on and lots of men in suits appear to have been betting on which one would survive the longest.

Characters:

I would need 4 people, probably 2 boys 2 girls who act in a similar way and then the group of people in the end scene. 

Inspiration:

The Truman Show gave me the idea for the people to have been watching and betting in the end. 

Big Brother gave me the idea for them not being able to leave the house.

Nightmare on Elm street gave me the idea about the dreams.

Brief review of the idea:

I like the idea but feel that it needs to be developed as at the moment it would be very short. I think that with camera angles I could make it have a big brother style but more subtle so you only realise at the end when you realise they were on a game show which could work well but would be difficult so I need to put more planning into this idea.

Idea 2 (Peter Pointer)

Plot:

A man who can stop a weapon hurting someone by pointing at it is dragged into a gang war and he tries to escape. He starts to plan his escape early on with the help of one of the gang members he trusts. Just before the escape his friend gets shot by the other gang and he is forced to try to adapt the plan to escape by himself. He tries to dig through a wall. During the escape he discovers he also has the power to kill people by pointing at them. After he escapes he wakes up in the night o the police arresting him for the murder of several of the gang members.

Characters:

The main character who should be nerdy and small, the gang member who should be your stereotypical gang member. The gang leader who should be a big intimidating person. And all the other gang members and police who would have a small speaking role if any. 

Inspiration:

Weirdly Sir Alan Sugar inspired me for this, when he says "you're fired" and points his finger I felt like this could be adapted into super power for a person. 

Shawshank Redemption gave me the idea about the escape involving digging through a wall.

Brief review of the idea:

I like this idea but feel like it would need a big budget for it to be done well, for example I would need to find a place where we could hit down a wall ect and this isn't practical. It would also take a large cast which would be difficult to find and a lot of different locations. But I think the idea could be changed so that it is more practical easily.

Good looking poster campaigns

A successful poster campaign

Example of the viral posters,
would be placed on a bus stop in real life

I have been looking at film poster campaigns that I think have been interesting so that I can develop the ideas for my own film poster campaign.  I think that the campaign for the film DISTRICT 9 (2009) has lots of great elements that I would like to build into my poster campaign.  I have also chosen to review this poster campaign as the film was in the action/thriller film genre which is an area I am interested in for my own short film.  District 9 was a successful film despite having a limited budget in terms of feature film ($30 million) and no A list celebrity actors.  

Sony Pictures used a viral marketing campaign which started a year before the film trailer in July 2009 with a clear tag line of ‘Humans Only’.  Not only using posters, they also developed stickers and put their images in lots of different places to create interest in the film.  These are all really good examples of Teaser posters and images to create interest in the film.  I think we can easily develop these ideas for the poster campaign.  Because the film is shot like a documentary the poster campaign really works by putting images into the day to day life of its possible target audiences – as if the film is real life.

Their traditional poster

The final ‘traditional’ posters for launching the film built on the campaign and are very effective.  It’s also interesting that because the film did not have very famous actors in it they chose to highlight the Directors who would be known by the cinema going public for other successful films (Lord of the Rings).  In my poster campaign I won’t have any famous actors or directors so I need to think about the best way to present the film poster for impact.

Influences on me:

As I won't have any famous actors and I'm not exactly a world famous director I need to think of other ways to make my film posters interesting and sell my film. I think that the viral stickers and posters used to advertise District 9 would be a good option to go with as it would quickly gain the public's interest if placed in the right places.

Another good Short

Brush with death by Corridor Digital- 1 min 49 secs

The Plot:

The plot is about a man who has to clean graffiti off a wall but then has to fight people that seem to come out of the graffiti or are made from it. This abstract idea makes it interesting as the audience haven't seen anything like it before. You are immediately positioned with the man in white as he is the first person you see and the close ups let you understand his emotion. Straight away the Short goes into him fighting the graffiti people,  this is effective as it immediately grabs your attention and makes you start to wonder what is going on. Why these events happened are never explained which gives the Short the feel of a different world in a way which makes it seem more realistic. The Short also ends with a cliffhanger which leaves you wanting to see more and I personally feel this is a good way of ending a Short. 

The Shots:

During the fighting scenes the camera tracks the movement which adds to the fast pace of the Short. Quick cutting style is also used to add to the fast paced feel. A large amount of shots are wide shots so that the CGI is more impressive, the abstract and clever CGI are also what helps make the Short so good as it is used well and professionally. 

The Lightning and Sound:

The light is all natural, this contrasts with the black graffiti people and helps put you on the side of the man in white. The fighting noises are a key part as they are cartoonish which adds to the unique feel of the film and the cartoon like idea and fighting. 

How it's influenced me:

After looking at this and "The Black Hole" I think it is very important in a short to quickly introduce the main character and position the audience with them, although I'm sure as I look at more Shorts I will see ways of not doing this but still having a good Short. I will probably stick to introducing the character quickly though as I think this works very well. I think that CGIis a good addition to a Short but I should only use effects if I can make them look realistic-what makes them so good as that they  are done professionally and look believable. 

A good short film

The Black Hole (2008) produced by Future Shorts- 2 mins and 49 secs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk

I've watched this short film and found it an excellent example of a Short. What made this so good was the...

The Plot

The film is about a man who prints a black dot that is a black hole. This is a original and unique idea that is well suited for a Short and interesting to watch. The film is about a man who works in an office and is clearly unhappy with his job and possibly life. This is clear within seconds of the film despite the lack of dialogue through different shots and diegetic sound and body language of the character. Portraying this quickly positions the audience with the main character so they are interested from the start. The film builds up as the character uses the black hole to more daring uses which we can identify with as many of us would have done the same thing. As the film ends you watch the man get stuck in the safe, you can see this happening and as you are positioned with him from the start you feel as if you want to warn him. This is what makes the film so good-the audience have identified with the character and the plot quickly develops to keep you interested. 

The Shots

The large amount of shots from different angles make it feel like you are watching him secretly at times, this feeling is strengthened by the fact no shots are from behind him at the start. For example the low angled shot through the black hole. The shots decrease in length as the tension increases. The fast paced cutting speeds up the film and makes it much more interesting to watch. At the end the shot of the safe ends it very well as you are given a while to wonder what will happen next.

The Lighting and Sound

The lighting sticks with the mood of the film and the plot, starts of very gloomy to fit with the characters mood and then gets a lot darker as he tries to rob from the safe. This makes the Short better as it adds more emotion so the audience are better involved. The diegetic sound is mainly the stereotypical office sounds only made louder so that they seem more of a part in the characters life. This helps position you with and understand the character more with the combination of his body language.

What I learnt

This showed me that in my film I should try to make the plot simple but original as well so that it isn't hard to follow but not predictable. I also learnt that the lighting is a key part of portraying the mood of the Short so I should think about it a lot when setting up a shot. 

How to make myself some Shorts

This year I'm going to be making a short film, so I probably need to know what a short film is.


History of the Short

In the early days of film making (1910s) short films were often shown with the feature film.  These were often animation cartoons or live actions short films.  With technological advancements like sound recording and technicolour, films could be developed to make an entire feature film like Becky Sharp (1935).  However, today short films are still a popular choice for film makers.  They can be a lot less expensive than making a full feature film – this makes it a popular medium for amateurs and students.  However, it is difficult to define the conventions now for short films because, other than the time limit of footage, there is such a huge variety of films that fall into this category.

Up 40 mins?

A feature film, such as Lord of the Rings (201 mins), that most people will watch on the T.V. or the cinema doesn't count as a short film. The Academy of Motion Pictures say that a short film is 40 minutes maximum. Most short films are below this time, especially on Youtube where a lot of the short films made by people like me are uploaded, and called Shorts in the media industry. A lot of short films are aimed at the Aficionado and film buff part of the film audience as they often contain topics that the mainstream audience don't look for in a film. But there is still a market for mainstream Shorts.

Me, myself and Short

I will be making a Short this year and am going to aim for it being 5 minutes and the best that I can do.
To make this as good as I can I'm going to look at lots of different shorts and analyse them to get a better understanding of how a Short works, such as plots, characters and script.