Analysis of Convention in Short Films

For me to understand the conventions in short films i  watched 5 short films through Future Shorts and 5 well-known films. I have chosen to analysis some of the films i have watched to have more understanding of the conventions used occasionally in  short films.

• Through watching short films i was able to analyse that there's mainly one or two characters and they're used as the protagonist; this means the characters will be used as the main focus in the film.An example of this will be Post-it Love which focuses on two main characters a man and woman that expresses their love for each other in a creative way.

• Short films tend to having a twist at the beginning or at the end to keep the audience surprised and it makes the storyline more interesting. However some short films keeps the storyline basics and reveals the characters motive quite quickly. An example of this is a film called "Fresh Meat" which tells a story about a cowboy builder with a motive to hunt a old lady; the background track  used  created an unsettling atmosphere. This might have been used to represent the character and this was portrayed when the old lady looks through bins.

• Steadicam  is used mostly in short films to create a point of view shot when focusing on the main character because short film storyline mostly focuses on the character/s life.

• Also voice-overs is also used in most short films when the storyline is about the character's life or the central protagonist. 

Short Film Research: Future Shorts

For me to get a better understanding about what forms and conventions of short film are.; i had to research more about short films and what it consist of. I came across a company called "Future shorts"  one of the largest short film network in the world and their aim is to promote and distribute short films. Future Shorts increases the popularity of short films by holding a festivals in 25 countries showcasing short film from around the world allowing the audience to meet the actors,this gives the viewers a chance to see the reality behind short films. Through this they're able to attract a huge audience and introduce them to the conventions of short films. 

Future Shorts uses the "secret cinema" technique to draw in more audience. This process concludes of Future Shorts showing the audience what they won't be expecting. This is successful because it keeps the audience guessing. 

Future Shorts is able to break conventions when connecting global audience to the world best film.It's aim is to be able to create a worldwide exchange of the most incredible stories and audiences;with their YouTube channel receiving over a million hits i believe this is possible. 

Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/user/futureshorts?feature=watch

Future Shorts: http://www.futureshorts.com/

Genre Convention

I used Prezzi to make a presentation on some aspects of  genre conventions.

What are conventions of drama ? 

Drama conventions consist of :

• Cliff hangers 
• Happy ending 
• Conflict within characters 
• Emotional concept 
• Climax point 
• Heroine 
• Bad guy/Good guy 

Films that breaks drama conventions 

• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and New Moon  challenges drama convention by changing the stereotype of vampires; in the movie the vampire were set out to help the humans;the vampires teamed with the werewolves and this challenges the convention as both creatures are enemies. In addition the beginning of the movie breaks all drama convention as it focuses on a relationship between a vampire and a mortal.This challenges drama convention as it only portrays realistic characters. 

• Titanic : The main character did not have a happy ending.

• Lovely Bones : The bad guy wasn't caught by the police. 

Target Audience Research : Survey

Surveys are seen has quick and easy to do; to get useful responses in a quick amount of time and it's inexpensive. It's important to justify what your aims are for the questionnaire and how the responses will benefit you and improve your research. Survey's can be in different forms from factual to opinion based ; from tick boxed to free text responses.However surveys do have some disadvantages;it lacks validity and your unable to tell if the participant is been truthful when answering the questions and the participant might read the question wrong and give an answer that is out of context.

In order for me to find out  who my target auidence are and what my target auidence already knows about domestic violence.I will be setting up a survey asking my potential target auidence what they already know about domestic violence,if they care about domestic violence and how it can make an impact in someones life. Through this i will be able to build up a storyline and know how i can grab the auidence attention. I will be doing an online survey research through  "survey monkey"  and then i will be able to analyse the result and reflect it on my script writing.

A2 Media Studies Handbook 2012-13

Doing the first week of starting the course I was given an hand guide to what the course consist of and what will have to do to get the grades I'm aiming for. In the booklet we're given 13 options to choose from i.e magazine,music video,short films etc.

I have chosen to do the 5minutes short film option and this can be live action or animated or a combination of both,together with two of the following three option : ( An (x) is next to the two other options i have chosen) 

•  A poster for the film (x)
• A radio trailer for the film (x)
• A film magazine review page featuring the film 

I have chosen to do another short film because that's what i chose for A level media last year and i thought it would be a good idea to show more of my developed skills since then. 

Production Name and Logo

My production name will be Double E Entertainment which stands for Everything is Everything. It's  my own media company. This is what will be displayed on the screen as the intro of  my short film along with the logo. 

 

Forms and Coventions:Research into film genres

My short film will be about domestic violence and the type of film genres that will feature in my short film will be drama and comedy.

Comedy:  are usually light-hearted plots assigned to amuse and provoke laughter (with one-liners, jokes, etc.) by exaggerating the situation, the language, action, relationships and characters. Films such as : Dance Flick,Scary movie ,our idiot brother
,scream,date movie and American Pie expresses that. I will be adding a little bit  of comedy into my short film to ease tension on the topic of domestic violence but i will still be showing the importance of dealing with domestic violence. 

Drama:  are serious motivating film, portraying realistic characters, settings, life situations, and stories involving intense character development and interaction. Dramatic films are probably the largest film genre, with many subsets.Examples of dramatic films are  : The Godfather ,Orphan,The Dark Knight  and Seven pounds . I will be adding the drama genre in to my short film to tell a motivating story about dealing with domestic violence and what people don't usually think about when the topic of domestic violence is brought up.This will allow the auidence to violence behind domestic violence and one copes with it.

 

Adventure:  are exciting filled with new experiences and mision which can be joint with an action genre. Adventure film mostly consist of historical context,expeditions,treasure hunts. Film such as Inception,Zathura,The Matrix and Toy Story.  

Horror: are usually frightening and used to invoke fear; this makes a movie more captivating and entertaining to the audience.A horror genre is often combined with science fiction films such as : The Omen,Alien The Excorist,Drag me to hell and Jennifer's body. 

Musical/dance:  is film genre that concludes songs interlining with the narrative of the film by performances i.e dance routines. The song used in a  musical film are mostly used to develop a character in the film or develop a plot. This is shown in films like : High school musical,Footloose,Hairspray and Alvin and the chipmunks e.t.c 

Actions: consists of energetic,fast,physical stunts,fights and chase.All this gets the audience adrenalin pumping with a lot of explosions and destruction and the obvious plot of the bad guy and good guy "heroines" and it's usually a high budget film.For example : Hancock, Iron Man, Hell Boy and Hulk.