How is your film different from other films that have dealt with the same themes?
People who are just starting out in the area of film in the media industry generally make short films and then progress to make documentaries and blockbuster films ect. They do in order to get some practice with making films and in order for them to be recognised in order for them to move on. They also generally choose to start off with short films because they have a low budget, so directors wouldn't have to put too much of their own money into the project. Due to the fact that we are students making a short film was the best way for us to go, because our status means that we didn't have enough money to fund a big project. While making the short film I found that you are allowed to be a lot more experimental due to the fact that people who make short film in general don't have a financial gain as a goal. We didn't h ave to follow the typical blockbuster storylines because we didn't have a mass target audience to please e.g. boy meets girl, something bad happens and they break–up then make-up by the end of the film. Short films are also less time consuming because their likely to be 3-5mins long, so they take less time to film e.g. for us it was two days. Blockbuster films take a lot more time because they vary from 90-120mins or more. This factor meant that short films were perfect for us to make because we could fit a short film project into our busy school timetables.
My short film follows the codes and conventions of a short film because it is only a few minutes long; just like every other short film. These types of films are also usually made on a low budget; we were the ones that pooled the money needed for the short film, we also had a low budget for our film. Generally short films have a strong and interesting narrative, which is due to the fact that short films don't generally have famous stars that can be used as a unique selling point, due to a lack of money in most cases e.g. In the film Seven Pounds the main actor's name Will Smith was just as big as the title of the film and it was right next to it as well, because he's famous. This factor was both an advantage and a disadvantage because not having established actors/actresses in our film meant that we would have to work harder to get people to watch our film. This is due to the fact that audiences are more attracted to watching a film if a famous actor/actress they like is in it. Not having established actors/actresses meant that our film was cheaper because famous actors/actresses would have probably have wanted money for taking part in the project.
Our film had an interesting story idea. We spent time in and outside of lesson pitching and constructing our ideas in order for our idea to be more original; we made these changes due to the feedback that we got. Short films also tend to be based on real life situations e.g. the short film ice-cream dreams; they also tend to have a deeper meaning to it. Our film follows these codes and conventions' seeming as our film was about a real life situation or something that could happen in real life. In general after watching so many short films during the research stage we picked up on some of the codes and conventions needed for a short film. Through this research and the feedback we received we were able to transform our film ideas into short film ideas. We did this in order for our film to be as close to a short film as possible.
Our short film only had two main characters in it and this is typical of a short film as short films don't usually have many characters in it. Short films also centre their stories around the limited amount of characters, which is what we did. We made sure that our characters looked like ordinary people in order for the short film to be realistic e.g. when we chose our actors we decided not to take a boy who auditioned because he had bright red hair, which was too eccentric for the humble world of our film. Having actors that looked ordinary is typical for characters in a short film as they are generally based on realistic issues e.g. Job Street. When we watched the short film Ice-Dream dreams we found it hilarious even though it was meant to be serious, however a younger audience (the suspected target audience) would have possibly learned to appreciate it more. This is why like every all films we made sure that we had our target audience in mind whilst constructing the film.
Characters in short films also need to be portrayed by strong or powerful actors/actresses; this is why we went out of our way to find a good actor (Michael Sams), who studies drama at school and actress (Louise Hewison) on the website Starnow (an acting agency website). On this website we could see videos of her previous acting experience and we could locate written information about them too e.g. what her previous employers thought about her level of acting. Their impeccable acting really came through, which made the film more dramatic and realistic. The level of acting in a short film is very important due to the fact that in every short film you only have a limited amount of time to attract a viewer. If the story isn't acted out properly people won't pay attention. Short films generally only have there narrative as a unique selling point. If the actors/actresses don't act out the narrative appropriately then their short film is less likely to be viewed because it would have no unique selling points essentially.
The narrative of our shor t film was quite unique as it had a twist e.g. the mum doesn't kill herself and the son walks away. This follows the codes and conventions of short films because our film ends dramatically like many other short films. We used this to our own advantage and made this objective of making a story short and captivating; our own goal during the planning stage. All of the film ideas we thought of had this objective in it. Although our film is an original idea it's very typical for short films to have an original idea and to have a twist at the end in order to gain the viewers attention and to make it more interesting in general e.g. the short film 'Alma' had a twist at the end as none was expecting the little girl to be sucked into the doll. So our film doesn't challenge the codes and conventions of a short film narrative to an extent, as its original, and it is about a real life situation; however you could argue that all short films are original and have a twist in it. We added something more than a twist to our film, as we made the audience believe that the character of the mum was going to kill herself, when in fact she was going to cut a birthday cake. This challenged the codes and conventions of a short film because usually they just have one twist at the end and that's it and generally everything is as it seems. In our film we had two twists at the end, as Max decided not to forgive his mum in the end and we also made it appear that the character of the mum was going to kill herself. Our film followed the codes and conventions of a short film when we decided to build up a lot of tension up in the film that was aided by the music we selected. However we also made an alternative ending in which Sarah and Max make-up in the end.
Big Hollywood films such as 'Seven Pounds' and the 'Pursuit of Happiness; are similar to our film seeming as they both have very strong emotional narratives (pulling at heart strings). The Pursuit of Happiness in particular focuses on a father and sons struggle in a capitalist society. We kind of developed the idea's in this film by making our own emotional story (the dad died and now the mum and son had to cope with the loss of their father/husband). Unlike 'The Pursuit of Happiness' we made are film more personal by focusing the story around to characters in a house rather than a father and sons struggle in an economic society. Due to us making our story idea more personal audiences were able to relate to it. Unlike 'The Pursuit of Happiness' we focused on the relationship between mother and son. This goes against the codes and conventions of some films in general due to the fact that we didn't focus on the relationship between mother and daughter/ women and girl like most films do e.g. Uptown girls. However in some cases we chose to follow the codes and conventions of a typical film when we made the characters in the film white instead of another ethnicity. This is due to the fact that people generally assume that characters in films like ours are centred around a white family, but ' The Pursuit of Happiness rejected this stereotype.
The sound we used in the film didn't really challenge the codes and convention of films, but it was sometimes different from other films that had the same theme as our film. In the beginning the music was kind of 'everyday music'; the type of music that played when everything in the scenes were ordinary and normal. This contrapuntal music went against the actions going on during the scene due to the fact that there was something wrong with the relationship between the mum and son, which means everything isn't normal e.g. mum sees son approaching and then mum walks away. We also made our film stand out more by making the music go in sync with the actions in the film e.g. Son stopped mum just as she was about to cut the cake and the music stopped dramatically. We used dramatic music in order to help build up the tension near the end of the film when the mum was about to allegedly kill herself. This is typical of films in general due to the fact that films generally use dramatic music to build up tension.
The costume of the actors followed the codes and conventions of other films because their costume was your everyday type of clothes e.g. when Sarah was walking around the house she was in jogging bottoms and when Sarah and Max were at the graveyard they were dressed in smart clothing e.g. black skirt and a suit. Sarah also only wore make-up at the cemetery in the first scene. In every other scene both Max and Sarah didn't wear make-up in or for them to look like ordinary people and also in order for them to look like they were grieving. The main setting used (a house) was typical as well because a house is an ordinary setting; especially for a drama like ours because they are usually set in everyday settings. The second setting we used (even though it was a school) wasn't typical of the codes and conventions because it looked another dimension/spiritual world even though it was actually the inside voice of Max. This went against the codes and conventions of drama's because this diary scene didn't look like an everyday setting. We also used a diary in this scene that Max used as a prop. We made the character pour out all his emotions into the diary. This goes against the codes and conventions of films because in most films Diary's are given to female characters as props because they are stereotyped to be t he more emotional e.g. like Celie in 'The Colour Purple'. Boys are stereotyped to be strong and not share their emotions, which is why it goes against the codes and conventions when Max has one. Sarah is seen holding a hoover as a prop and hoovering, which follows the codes and conventions of female characters in films and stereotypes because women are stereotyped to be housewives/do all the cleaning e.g. like the mother at the beginning of the film Ramona and Beezus. The lighting in the film is also natural lighting, which follows other drama films, as they are set or about real life e.g. like the natural lighting in the film 'Imagine That'.
People who are just starting out in the area of film in the media industry generally make short films and then progress to make documentaries and blockbuster films ect. They do in order to get some practice with making films and in order for them to be recognised in order for them to move on. They also generally choose to start off with short films because they have a low budget, so directors wouldn't have to put too much of their own money into the project. Due to the fact that we are students making a short film was the best way for us to go, because our status means that we didn't have enough money to fund a big project. While making the short film I found that you are allowed to be a lot more experimental due to the fact that people who make short film in general don't have a financial gain as a goal. We didn't h ave to follow the typical blockbuster storylines because we didn't have a mass target audience to please e.g. boy meets girl, something bad happens and they break–up then make-up by the end of the film. Short films are also less time consuming because their likely to be 3-5mins long, so they take less time to film e.g. for us it was two days. Blockbuster films take a lot more time because they vary from 90-120mins or more. This factor meant that short films were perfect for us to make because we could fit a short film project into our busy school timetables.
My short film follows the codes and conventions of a short film because it is only a few minutes long; just like every other short film. These types of films are also usually made on a low budget; we were the ones that pooled the money needed for the short film, we also had a low budget for our film. Generally short films have a strong and interesting narrative, which is due to the fact that short films don't generally have famous stars that can be used as a unique selling point, due to a lack of money in most cases e.g. In the film Seven Pounds the main actor's name Will Smith was just as big as the title of the film and it was right next to it as well, because he's famous. This factor was both an advantage and a disadvantage because not having established actors/actresses in our film meant that we would have to work harder to get people to watch our film. This is due to the fact that audiences are more attracted to watching a film if a famous actor/actress they like is in it. Not having established actors/actresses meant that our film was cheaper because famous actors/actresses would have probably have wanted money for taking part in the project.
Our film had an interesting story idea. We spent time in and outside of lesson pitching and constructing our ideas in order for our idea to be more original; we made these changes due to the feedback that we got. Short films also tend to be based on real life situations e.g. the short film ice-cream dreams; they also tend to have a deeper meaning to it. Our film follows these codes and conventions' seeming as our film was about a real life situation or something that could happen in real life. In general after watching so many short films during the research stage we picked up on some of the codes and conventions needed for a short film. Through this research and the feedback we received we were able to transform our film ideas into short film ideas. We did this in order for our film to be as close to a short film as possible.
Our short film only had two main characters in it and this is typical of a short film as short films don't usually have many characters in it. Short films also centre their stories around the limited amount of characters, which is what we did. We made sure that our characters looked like ordinary people in order for the short film to be realistic e.g. when we chose our actors we decided not to take a boy who auditioned because he had bright red hair, which was too eccentric for the humble world of our film. Having actors that looked ordinary is typical for characters in a short film as they are generally based on realistic issues e.g. Job Street. When we watched the short film Ice-Dream dreams we found it hilarious even though it was meant to be serious, however a younger audience (the suspected target audience) would have possibly learned to appreciate it more. This is why like every all films we made sure that we had our target audience in mind whilst constructing the film.
Characters in short films also need to be portrayed by strong or powerful actors/actresses; this is why we went out of our way to find a good actor (Michael Sams), who studies drama at school and actress (Louise Hewison) on the website Starnow (an acting agency website). On this website we could see videos of her previous acting experience and we could locate written information about them too e.g. what her previous employers thought about her level of acting. Their impeccable acting really came through, which made the film more dramatic and realistic. The level of acting in a short film is very important due to the fact that in every short film you only have a limited amount of time to attract a viewer. If the story isn't acted out properly people won't pay attention. Short films generally only have there narrative as a unique selling point. If the actors/actresses don't act out the narrative appropriately then their short film is less likely to be viewed because it would have no unique selling points essentially. The narrative of our shor t film was quite unique as it had a twist e.g. the mum doesn't kill herself and the son walks away. This follows the codes and conventions of short films because our film ends dramatically like many other short films. We used this to our own advantage and made this objective of making a story short and captivating; our own goal during the planning stage. All of the film ideas we thought of had this objective in it. Although our film is an original idea it's very typical for short films to have an original idea and to have a twist at the end in order to gain the viewers attention and to make it more interesting in general e.g. the short film 'Alma' had a twist at the end as none was expecting the little girl to be sucked into the doll. So our film doesn't challenge the codes and conventions of a short film narrative to an extent, as its original, and it is about a real life situation; however you could argue that all short films are original and have a twist in it. We added something more than a twist to our film, as we made the audience believe that the character of the mum was going to kill herself, when in fact she was going to cut a birthday cake. This challenged the codes and conventions of a short film because usually they just have one twist at the end and that's it and generally everything is as it seems. In our film we had two twists at the end, as Max decided not to forgive his mum in the end and we also made it appear that the character of the mum was going to kill herself. Our film followed the codes and conventions of a short film when we decided to build up a lot of tension up in the film that was aided by the music we selected. However we also made an alternative ending in which Sarah and Max make-up in the end.
Big Hollywood films such as 'Seven Pounds' and the 'Pursuit of Happiness; are similar to our film seeming as they both have very strong emotional narratives (pulling at heart strings). The Pursuit of Happiness in particular focuses on a father and sons struggle in a capitalist society. We kind of developed the idea's in this film by making our own emotional story (the dad died and now the mum and son had to cope with the loss of their father/husband). Unlike 'The Pursuit of Happiness' we made are film more personal by focusing the story around to characters in a house rather than a father and sons struggle in an economic society. Due to us making our story idea more personal audiences were able to relate to it. Unlike 'The Pursuit of Happiness' we focused on the relationship between mother and son. This goes against the codes and conventions of some films in general due to the fact that we didn't focus on the relationship between mother and daughter/ women and girl like most films do e.g. Uptown girls. However in some cases we chose to follow the codes and conventions of a typical film when we made the characters in the film white instead of another ethnicity. This is due to the fact that people generally assume that characters in films like ours are centred around a white family, but ' The Pursuit of Happiness rejected this stereotype.
The sound we used in the film didn't really challenge the codes and convention of films, but it was sometimes different from other films that had the same theme as our film. In the beginning the music was kind of 'everyday music'; the type of music that played when everything in the scenes were ordinary and normal. This contrapuntal music went against the actions going on during the scene due to the fact that there was something wrong with the relationship between the mum and son, which means everything isn't normal e.g. mum sees son approaching and then mum walks away. We also made our film stand out more by making the music go in sync with the actions in the film e.g. Son stopped mum just as she was about to cut the cake and the music stopped dramatically. We used dramatic music in order to help build up the tension near the end of the film when the mum was about to allegedly kill herself. This is typical of films in general due to the fact that films generally use dramatic music to build up tension.
The costume of the actors followed the codes and conventions of other films because their costume was your everyday type of clothes e.g. when Sarah was walking around the house she was in jogging bottoms and when Sarah and Max were at the graveyard they were dressed in smart clothing e.g. black skirt and a suit. Sarah also only wore make-up at the cemetery in the first scene. In every other scene both Max and Sarah didn't wear make-up in or for them to look like ordinary people and also in order for them to look like they were grieving. The main setting used (a house) was typical as well because a house is an ordinary setting; especially for a drama like ours because they are usually set in everyday settings. The second setting we used (even though it was a school) wasn't typical of the codes and conventions because it looked another dimension/spiritual world even though it was actually the inside voice of Max. This went against the codes and conventions of drama's because this diary scene didn't look like an everyday setting. We also used a diary in this scene that Max used as a prop. We made the character pour out all his emotions into the diary. This goes against the codes and conventions of films because in most films Diary's are given to female characters as props because they are stereotyped to be t he more emotional e.g. like Celie in 'The Colour Purple'. Boys are stereotyped to be strong and not share their emotions, which is why it goes against the codes and conventions when Max has one. Sarah is seen holding a hoover as a prop and hoovering, which follows the codes and conventions of female characters in films and stereotypes because women are stereotyped to be housewives/do all the cleaning e.g. like the mother at the beginning of the film Ramona and Beezus. The lighting in the film is also natural lighting, which follows other drama films, as they are set or about real life e.g. like the natural lighting in the film 'Imagine That'.
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