Inital Research -by Danielle Willett

1) Click. Flash. by Trifecta/Heatstroke was a 2011 finalist for the National Film Challenge

http://filmchallenge.org/2011-Finalists/2011-finalist-click-flash.html

The story is about a broken down country singer who finds that having a simple drink is much more than what she bargained for.
I choose this short film because it is very powerful as it shows an innocent person having a drink and what the outcome could be. The film is extremely well done visually and audibly and the scene transitions made the story even more exciting and unexpectable that it makes you shiver.

Representation:

• This film deals with the issues of drink driving and the risks you take when driving intoxicated. The facts are that even an innocent person who would never hurt anyone like the country singer can do such damage to someone's life, including death. It sends across messages of how easy it is to kill someone when driving and the responsibility an individual has if something goes wrong.
• The genre is 'fantasy' and 'drama' because it is what she is dreaming in her head at the bar as she did not understand what she had done wrong and why a women was laughing at her aswell as a man tugging on her to wake her up.
• The expected audience for Click. Flash would be people like the main female character and show how an innocent persons life can change forever after one drink. So many accidents happen each year to alcohol and this film represents how.
• Negative representations are shown as it is a young female character therefore, it is seen as if only young people drink and cause accidents while driving. However, the ambulance people see to be acting alot more like older adults and are showing more of a looked up to figure. This film also explains that if you are not in a stable job and not earning much money then you are more likely to become an alcoholic.

Narrative

• The story completely misreads the audience because it is not till it starts to get to the end of the film that we identify she is involved in a car crash and the plot is that she had killed someone down to her drinking. The story makes us understand that she is drunk and that the characters at the bar are all seen at the driving accident scene.
• It is a circular narrative structure because the film begins with her car driving along a road late at night and it then flashes back to her at the bar earlier on, and then takes us back to a similar point by the end of the short film of her driving and then hitting into the women who is jogging on the pavement. This creates an impact on the audience as there must be a reason why the film starts with a point of view shot of someone driving and how the end of the film almost gives a shock as it is very graphic and unexpected. 
• David Bordwell and Kirsten Thompson say that the story is everything that has happened to the characters in their lives and this includes events we do not see. Therefore, the plot only includes events of the story that are seen in film in order to tell the story. In this case we only see the female character driving and at the bar, we have no idea why she is feeling down or what has happened to her to make her drink and drive and the reason for her reactions. The events in the story are 'plotted' to create a narrative. 
• An action code is used in this narrative as we see flickering lights, a bottle of alcohol dripping and the sound of sirens start to get louder. This kind of code tells us that an action will take place and enables the audience to engage and predict the plot. 

Genre

• Short films typically using genre as they are smaller in length of time and they must have a plot and story therefore it must be categorised into a genre to be identified.
• Fantasy is a genre of Click.Flash as it is as if she is dreaming and the scene at the bar is very confusing as the audience have no idea why the characters are acting strange, rude and manliptive towards her, until the end where it all unravels.

Audience

• The this type of film makes your 'spine shiver' as it is very dramatic and surprising about what is about to happen as no one would want that to happen to them. The makers of the film try and get the audiences expectations high as the film draws to a close as the bar stuff start to shake her, point bright lights in her face almost trying to scare her. She then realises that her guitar is broken and smashed this symbolises that her life is over even before we have seen the accident as her job is a country singer. 

Media Language 

• 
• The film begins with a series of point of view (POV) shots. The first shot is the sight of the road and the vision in which someone is driving a car. The image in which the car is moving seems blurred and unsteady. This instantly gives the audience an idea that the driver may not be completely concentrating and stable.

• A close up is taken of a wine bottle which is leaking. This particular shot is repeated three times throughout the short film indicating that an event relating to alcohol has either happened or is about to happen. The shot is very dark and mysterious, still not giving away anything including what exactly the alcohol is. The audience are left anticipating the outcome of this shot. 

• Throughout the entire five minutes of this short film there are constant references back to alcohol. Firstly, the barmaid pours wine into a glass, there is a close up shot of this directing all our attention onto the alcohol. The liquid is red symbolizing the accident that is going to happen, which the audience will later find out. The barmaid passes the glass to the customer who immediately downs the drink. This indicates to us as an audience that maybe the customer is an alcoholic or that something is troubling her. 

• The audience gets introduced to a third character who keeps laughing to herself. She comes across as very suspicious as her face is not shown until later and there is no indication as to who she is. The women regularly laughs throughout the duration of the scene, still giving no information away, including her identity. . 

• We then see a forth character who is asking for a 'light' and just like the others he is coming across very mysterious. This close up shown signifies that the audience are oblivious to who this man is and why he is there. 

2)No Second Chances by Ben Goodger (2011)

A sharp suited business executive pleads with his former partner for one more chance. However, the film only uses one charater and uses creative climate shots.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p00mqgpm

Representation 

• The main character is your average middle aged,working man dressed in a suit. The audience stereotype him to have a good job and be in a stable position because of the clothes he is wearing however ,this shows that money does not bring happiness as he is extremely upset that his other half has ended it with him.
• This short film deals with the issues of relationships and the stress and upset that goes with it. In this case it seems as if the male has been abusive towards his girlfriend/wife as he has been imaging that the tree is her and practising what he is going to say then he starts to attack the tree by kicking and punching it.   
• The director wanted to highlight how utterly dependant us as humans are on the natural world for our survival whilst controversially the natural world has absolutely no need of mankind to prosper. The tree represents that we tend to forget the inequity of this relationship and our failure to appreciate the importance of the natural environment has led to its systematic abuse and destruction in many parts of the world.
• Drama is the genre used as the man is telling a story to the audience about what has happened to him while speaking to a tree. We can see his emotion, anger and heartbreak as he begs for her back. However, a metaphor is used because without mother nature and trees no one would be able to survive.

Narrative

• The chronology of the narrative is linear as we start off seeing the man talking to the tree explaining how he is feeling to him then being physically punching and kicking the tree.
• This short film appears not to really have a plot and story because nothing happens during the film that has an impact on him or changes the idea of the story. This has an effect on the spectator because our full attention is on the man listening to what he has to say explaining that without the tree he literally 'can not live with it'. It is a good way to show our total vulnerability and hopelessness when detached from the resources of the enviroment.

Audience

• This film was made by one of the top film schools and was part of the BBC's creative climate project. There challenge was to produce a mix of drama, animation and factual films exploring issues to do with climate change. Therefore, the audience for this film would be other film schools and education places to represent cleverly climate change issues to something that is a massive part of everyones life - relationships.
• I think that females are more likely to watch this film as they are known to be more emotional and understand how he is feeling and feel sorry for him, as men would not seem to have an interest unless they have an interest in the enviorment.
• Second chances was a finalist at the open university BBC creative climate short film competition 2011.

Media Language

• The very first shot we see is an establishing shot of the forest to set the scene to show he is in the middle of no where. It also represents nature, as shown it is full of plants and trees.