Preproduction Pitch Feedback

Short Film Concept

This short animation provides a quick proposal for the narrative concept of our short film which we intend to show to our audience during our pitch. The video provides an idea of the basic characters, settings and props that our film will include as well as the scenes and shots that we will use whilst filming.

Exploring Narrative

Radio Trailer

Using my knowledge from studying radio trailers, I have had a quick attempt at producing my own on Garageband to promote an upcoming fictional film for release. I started by producing the basic music score which I then built on top of with dialogue. I was careful to make sure that the tone of the music was appropriate to the genre of the film - a coming-of-age story set in an American high school, meaning the tone of the music had a cheery, pop-music sound to appeal to a teenage audience. I followed all of the appropriate conventions such as the use of lines of dialogue taken directly from the film in order to give an indication of the narrative. I also used a voice over as narrator as most radio trailers do which pulled the trailer along and gave it structure, revealing the title of the film as well as its release date. The radio trailer includes quotes from reviews by reliable sources such as Empire magazine which provide the film with a positive reputation hopefully enticing audiences to the cinema.   

 

Practice Trailer Music

Here is my very first attempt at using Garageband to produce an original piece of music using the loops provided. The programme was completely alien to me at first though after a while it soon started to become natural as I started to learn my way around the icons, learning what did what. I'm quite proud of this short piece of music that I have produced which I feel has a true urban street dance feel to it meaning it would appeal to young teen audience. It would be appropriate for use on a radio trailer promoting a film of a teen comedy genre such as the upcoming '21 and over' or perhaps films of a dance/hip-hop genre such as the popular 'Step It Up' or 'Streetdance' franchises. 

Radio Trailers

I've been listening to radio trailers on YouTube though they are not always easy to find and so below I have managed to gather a few trailers for the BBC popular family sci-fi/drama 'Doctor Who':

By listening to these I have gained an understanding of the typical styles and conventions that are used when making a radio trailer. The first observation is that they are each under one minute in length showing me that radio trailers should typically be short and to-the-point in order to grab the reader's attention like a 'shark-bite' effect. other conventions I picked up on are:

• Use of a voice over to narrate the trailer by clearly introducing the film title along with it's slogan, if appropriate, followed by any other vital information such as release time and date
• Use of direct dialogue/sound effects taken from the film - usually of an engimatic nature such as, "Don't go in there!" which intrigues the reader's interest and entices them to discover the film's mysteries.
• Some radio trailers also include quotes from critics reviews and star ratings to show that the film has recieved a positive response.

This has been a very useful learning experience and I plan to use this knowledge I have gained of radio trailer conventions during the process of making my own. 

My 'The Help' Rottontomatoes review

Adapting Kathryn Stockett's 2009 best-selling novel 'The Help' for the big screen was always going to be a risky move considering the difficult subjects that it tackles. That being said, Tate Taylor delivers a witty and charming insight into the lives of black women living in 1960s America from a refreshing perspective that manages to stay true to the novel as well as respectful of those affected by its events. Taylor builds relationships between characters that have the audience both laughing and crying and ultimately, eating out of the palm of his hand. And whilst, at times, the plot may seem a little lost and with no direction, the lovable leading ladies Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer manage to hold the plot together until the film finds itself again. 'The Help' also provides chance to view rising star Emma Stone in a completely new light away from her usual comic typecasting. Stone delivers a sensational, heart-warming performance as journalist Skeeter displaying a breath-taking amount of compassion and sincerity proving herself to be a mature young woman and sealing her future spot on the Hollywood A-list. All in all - a top watch!

- Neil Readman

Film Reviews

Investigation: I'm Here

I'm Here

Investigation: How They Get There

By looking at the opening sequence of 'How They Get There', I plan to classify the short film in terms of genre, discussing the conventions it portrays.

Classifying 'How They Get There' in terms of genre is difficult because it does not directly conform nor rely on the coventions of a specific, mainstream genre. However, as Christine Gledhill proposed, 'genres are not definite systems consisting of a fixed number of listable items', supporting the idea that 'How They Get There' produces its own unique genre.

The film begins with a close-up of a shoe standing by the curb which then leads into a sequence of close-up shots centring around a male character. Whilst sugnalling him out as a significant character, this also creates the enigma as to who he is and why he is important. The ambient lighting provides the appearance of natural daylight, whilst matched with the ordinary setting of a street and the casual clothing, gives the feeling of a drama genre. The stance of the male character, leaning casually against the hood of a care gives impressions of him being very cocksure and confidnet and is overtly cliche, reminiscent of scenes from other films such as 'Grease'. With this is mind, the introduction of the female character instantly provides connotations of a romance genre, particularly as through the use of a shot/reverse shot, it is evident tat the male is instantly fixated on her. Though the female's red jumper carries symbolism of danger, foreboding the events to come.

The sequence of shot/reverse shot creates a sense of humour as it is shown thast the male and female begin mimicking each other which conforms to comedy convention, introducing elements of yet another genre. This supports Steve Neale's theory that 'genre are not systems, but processes of systimisation' as already, 'How They Get There' has demonstrated conventions of three separate genres.

Investigation: Across The Hall

Across The Hall

‘Across The Hall’ typically falls into the ‘thriller’ genre category though could be argued as a ‘thriller/action’ hybrid due to the familiar conventions of action films such as the ‘gun’ and ‘car’ references; as Gledhill proposes, ‘genres are not discrete systems, consisting of a fixed number of listable items’ allowing for conventions of two or more genres to combine. But primarily, ‘Across The Hall’ relies heavily on the film conventions that we typically associate with thrillers such as the clever use of mise-en-scene to enhance both the mood and atmosphere of the action on screen. In particular, ‘Across The Hall’ uses music of a threatening tone to build tension and increase both the danger and the fear leaving the audience sat on the edge of their seats. There’s also high use of lighting for effect such as the limited lighting throughout the shots of the ‘guy with the gun’ to create shadows and mystery, indicating the dark side of his character as well as producing connotations of the motel being dark and dim as well as the sickly red and green lighting bathing the scene in a creepy and eerie glow.

Genre Task: The Outsider

Using the knowledge we have learnt from studying genre, we have been set the task to convert the same simple narrative into two separate film concepts using the conventions of two completely unrelated genres. The storyline, entitled 'The Outsider' consists of a character stumbling across a new kingdom where they are considered an outcast and are instantly caught up in the battle zone of a rising war.

 

For our first concept, we have decided to convert the narrative to suit a science-fiction genre. Considering the typical sci-fi conventions and our own expectations of sci-fi, we devised the idea that the film could be set on an alien planet and that the character considered an 'outsider' could be an astronaut who has crash landed. He becomes cought up in a long-standing battle between the two inhabitent alien species of the planet, 'the red people' and 'the blue people'. Believe we have created a mock-up idea of how the film poster may appear for such a film as well as a quick breakdown of the narrative:

 

Considering we had already selected science-fiction as our first genre, we knew for our second film concept we needed to choose a genre with very different conventions. As our first concept was set on another world, the most likely scenario seemed to be to set our second on earth and because our first appealed to an older audience due to its graphic scenes of violence during the alien battle, we decided the second should reach a younger age category. Therefore, we decided to produce the concept of a tennage high school comedy using exactly the same narrative as the previous sci-fi. In place of the astronaut we created a new girl who's first day it was at school and therefore was considered an 'outsider' as she did not have any friends. We then, constantly refering back to our knowledge of the typical conventions and expectations of the chosen genre, created the idea of having a rivalry between two gangs; the 'cool' kids and the nerds which our protagonist instantly becomes swept up in which results in a battle to decide which team she will join forces with. Below is our interpretation of the narrative to suit the conventions of our genre along with a mock-up of a possible accompanying film poster: 

Hybrid Genres

As Christine Gledhill proposes, "there are no rigid rules of inclusion and exclusion" for genres meaning often conventions of two or more genres can be combined to create what is known as a 'hybrid'. For example, 'rom-coms' are very popular hybrid genres which combine the typical conventions of both romance and comedy films to form its own unique blend. The list of hybrid genres is endless as practically any film genre conventions can be mashed together no matter how surprising and most already have within cinema. Below are a couple of surprising examples of hybrid films featuring unlikely mash-ups of genres:

 

Cowboys and Aliens

 

'Cowboys and Aliens' combines two completely unrelated genres in mixing the conventions of western and science-fiction - a mix which, in an other circumstance, would sound ridiculous but it definitely paid off for this film which went on to become a big success.

 

Paul

 







'Paul' is a blend of science-fiction and comedy conventions which, again, seems like a very unlikely combination mixture considering science-fiction is typically thought to be a powerful and dramatic genre with very little time to make jokes and yet Simon Pegg and Nick Frost prove with this huge hit that the two genres were just waiting to be mashed together.

Genre

Studying Film Posters

Researching Short Films

I have been researching popular short films in order to discover their typical conventions to help with the producing of my own. I wanted to investigate what it was that made them work so well and, resultantly, why they were so popular.

 

I found that the best short films had a clear sense of narrative as a result of refined setting, props and costume in order to enhance mood and atmosphere. The most entertaining short films often had a twist in the narractive by which the audience were initially lead to believe one thing before the narrative turns this idea around and tricks the viewer, playing with their expectations.

 

I have selected three of my favourite short films that I came across whilst researching them, below:

How They Get There

I particularly liked this short film because of the way the narrative took a simple concept of everyday life of which we all familiar with though can never explain and provided a possible, albeit extravagant, explanation. I also liked the way in which the narrative was slightly ambiguous at the beginning which left the audience eager to discover what was going to happen next. The sudden shift in the tone of the film from the comical nature of the male and female mimicking one another to the complete opposite tragic nature of the car accident was very effective and made the climax seem even more dynamic and dramatic, enhancing the viewing experience. What was also interesting about this film was that it continued no dialogue and only a music score and yet the it was still equally as effective due to changes in the tone and tempo of the score to suit the action on screen, therefore, I have learnt that it is not always essential to include dialogue as short films can be just as effective without. This is something to bear in mind when planning my own short film.

 

Spin 

I loved how dynamic and ambitious this film is. I also liked how the film incorporated several different tones meaning the mood was constantly shifting, keeping the audience on their toes with the tension. The initial coincept of the film is actually considerably dark with a sense of danger considering the lead character is playing with the rules of life and death, however the film still manages to contain subtle use of humour throughout in order to lighten the mood such as the ending in which the character has to run off before he sees another accident to meddle with which I feel works really well. The use of special effects in this film is spectacular and truly helps to bring the narrative to life and, whilst I myself will not have not have access to professional effects nor the ability to apply them, this film has provided me with inspiration to strive and and be as ambitious as I can be.

Partly Cloudy

This animated short was created by the popular film producer Pixar Studios and aimed at an audience of children. Similarly to the style of 'How They Get There', the film adopts the approach of examining an everyday aspect of life - new birth, often a confusing concept for young children - and provides an explanation for it. This film is particularly clever as it combines too concepts not normally connected and provides its own fictional connection to form the fantasy genre which appeals to small children. The biggest thing I learnt from watching this short film was the importance in appealing to a specific audience and ensuring that the film content is appropriate meaning if i chose to aim my short film at an audience of teenagers, I will need to make sure that both the narrative successfully appeals to that age category.

What makes a good short film?

As part of introducing myself to short films, I have decided to conduct a list of factors which I believe help to produce a good short film. This should help me in my future studies and provide me with key factors to look out for when studying short films as well as when the time comes to produce my own.

An Introduction to Short Films

Short Films on Prezi

Prelimary Task: Micro Film

Here is the finished product of our prelimary task where we were asked to produce a micro film of no longer than 30 seconds. The film has a simple narrative, conforming to the instructions we were given to include three simple lines of dialogue. We have also incorporated the required cinematography technique  of a shot/reverse shot displaying a conversation between two speakers throughout the sequence in which our protagonist is pressurised into smoking. We have also paid particular attention to mise-en-scene and have used the appropriate costume of casual clothing according to the characters types of teenagers as well as the setting and location of a college.

Through carrying out this practice task I have gained a vital insight into the use of cinematography for effect such as the shot-reverse-shot which helps to add drama by showing different perspectives of the same shot and also helps to build relationships between characters by showing the way in which they interact. I have also learnt of the importance of mise-en-scene such as costume, props and setting to enhance the narrative and make the film more credible. I plan to carry this new-found knowledge forward and apply it to the making of my full short film.

First Task

For my first task for this year I have been asked to produce a micro film of no longer than 30 seconds using the simple piece of dialogue provided. I am required to pay particular attention to mise-en-scene and cinematography and have been provided with a short list of core requirements concerning camerawork which must be included within my short film such as a 'short-reverse-shot' and a 'cross-cut' though I am not permitted to move the camera whilst filming. My short film must also have clear establishment of genre which I intend to address through the use of setting and costume.

First post: Introduction to A2

My name is Neil Readman and I am an A2 media student currently beginning studies into short films. Over the course of this year, I plan to research and study short films to gain a solid understanding of the typical conventions with the end task of producing my own short film.