Initial Research By Danielle Willett

3)The Last 3 Minutes by Po Chan (2010) (US) (5m)

http://www.filmsshort.com/best-short-films/Best-American-Films-1.html

<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->It is when a man is dying and he has flashbacks to different parts of his life from the most recent event to when he is first born. These events must be very emotional and important for him.

Representation:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->This film deals with the greater issues of war as there are so many men that die each year and it is seen that before you die you see flashbacks from your life.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]--> <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->The main young female we see throughout the film represents a pretty, attractive young feminine woman. These are positive representations of women as she comes across as being happy, full of life and falling in love with man of her dreams. However, in the short film it does feature her undressing for the man, this shows her in a sexual way and a negative stereotype of females as if they are just looked at in a sexually desirable way.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->The expected audience for this film is adults as it represents love, marriage, war, old age and death all in just a couple of minutes. It goes through an older person’s life before they pass away.

Narrative

• The plot of this short film is very vague. It runs through a person passed life and what were the most important parts that he remembers. It is an emotional for the spectator as we all have people that are extremely close to us and the thought of never seeing them again is devastating. Therefore, when it shows the women he is in a relationship with and his parents and how close they all are, the audience can relate to it. Each flashback gets further into his past life, it starts with the man collapsing and ends with him thinking about when he was a baby and his parents cuddling him.
• It is not a linear narrative as it starts at the end of his life and finishes when he was just born with his parents. This creates an effect that the last 3 minutes of his life he thinks of the more recent events first and just before he passes away he thinks of when he was a child with his parents and there is no more of his life in flashbacks to be shown.
• David Bordwell and Kirsten Thompson’s narrative theory is that everything that has happened to the characters in the world of the story, including events we do not see, but infer, or assume to have taken place, before, during or after the second period seen in the film. In this films case we see the death to the birth of the character, the events that has happened in his life are plotted to create the narrative. We only see the events of the story that we see in the film in order to tell his life story. 

Genre

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->The genre of the short film is either action or romance as it involves him being loved and cared for by his parents and the strong emotional relationship he has with his wife. The film mostly includes two women which are probably the most important people in his life; this represents gender as women are seen as calming and nurturing whereas he is a man killing at war.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]--> <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->Short film typically use genre because it can be viewed in terms of film form as each genre has characteristics and features of style. Genre makes a film recognisable, this is important for short film as there time for filming is not as long as full length films.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->However, you can argue that this film has no genre as it shows many flashbacks and has no plot to the story except that the man is dying.

Audience

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]--> <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->The website describes The Last 3 mins as one of the Best American Short Films and it is where you can upload your films and try get recognized and prove yourself. I would say the demographics for this short film are people aged from 25-35 as the characters are around this age and it is the age in which men become soldiers. Therefore, some may be able to relate to this man’s flashbacks. As it is quite a tear jerking film it will appeal to both male and female as both would probably find it quite emotional and interesting to watch.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->The last 3 mins can only be viewed on one website however Po (the producer) had put his film on YouTube as well. The comments are all really positive such as ‘Incredible filmmaking. From the visuals to the audio to the casting and music – perfection!’. The use of camera work and editing is really clever and the creativity of fading and dissolving one flashback into another and for us to understand what is going on.

<!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->Media Language

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->While the man is dying he picks up a big crystal which he looks into and then it starts with his life flashbacks. We first of all see his wife/girlfriend in a magnified and multiple reflections as if he can see her through the crystal. This is very creative as it shows the audience he is dreaming but it is although she is bending down to the glass but it is just his flashbacks. This creates a response as if he wants her to help him or come and look down on him to see whether he is okay. Barthes enigma codes would say that this creates mystery as the spectator is motivated to see what is going on therefore is close and has active engagement with the narrative.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]--> <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->When the main character was in the war it seems as if he remembers losing a friend and not being able to do anything about it. The boy in the frame looks directly at the camera, as it is the characters flashback in his position. This creates a response that he felt helpless and that you lose close people to you out in the army world. This is quite a different setting to what other flashbacks we have seen, this is seen as to be negative as the man is dying and seems very young. It is good to give an audience what they want and partly getting something they are surprised to see.

Analysing Short Films

Bad Night by Jordan Yorkston and Campbell Don

Found on website: http://onlineshortfilms.net/watch/bad-night-video_fae4366a7.html

A boy is awakened in the night while sleeping in his bed. He grabs his phone next to him and sees that his girlfriend has text him saying she is at the office and won’t make it home. However, there is a figure lying next to him in bed and he automatically realises that it can’t be her. He gets up with a gun and shoots the body twice. He then checks his phone and realises there is a voicemail from her saying she is on her way home earlier in the evening, so it was definitely her in the bed.

I choose this short film because I found it funny as the boy thought he woke up next to someone he didn’t know and all of a sudden got a gun out to shoot the body. It is a quick film and thrilling to watch.

Representation

• I would say this film is aimed at young adults as it is black humour mixed with thriller.
• <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->There is only one main male character. He is young and quite geeky as we only see him in bed with his full length pyjamas on. We would stereotype him as a young working man leaving with his girlfriend in a middle class house. These are positive representations as he is like an everyday working person that we can relate to and see ourselves in his situation.
• As this film is aimed at young people because of the humour and thriller involved a young character is used as young people can relate to him and would laugh and find it exciting. If the character was old aged it is not there sort of humour.

Narrative

• The start of the short film is very menacing as the non-diegetic music is spooky and sinister which creates an intense mood as if something is going to happen. However, the actual plot is that the boy hears the back garden shed banging and thinks it’s something outside which then wakes him up to then look at his phone to call the police. And he then realises that his girlfriend was not due to stay at home that night and there is someone in the bed with him. This has <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->an effect on the spectator as they are shocked to see that there is a body in the bed with the man.

• The short film is linear as it starts off with the shed gate crashing with intense music and then fades into a shot of the stairs. The shot is much distorted and you can not see what is at the top of the stairs. The middle of the short film is the man seeing his phone and then realizing that it is not her in the bed with him. The end of the short film is him getting out a gun and shooting the person in the bed with him. It has a beginning, middle and end as the outcome is him accidently murdering his lover.
• The narrative theory of Todorov is that a classic narrative such as the bad night, should have an equilibrium which in this case is the shed door crashing which then wakes the man up. The disruption is the main character realising that his partner said she wasn’t going to make it home and therefore there is someone else in his bed. The resolution of the film is him getting out a gun and shooting her.

Genre

• The genre of comedy and thriller are used.

Comedy – Once he has shot the body he listens to a voicemail which identifies that the person he just shot was his girlfriend.

Thriller – Tense music, a low angle camera shot looking up to the shed, dark scene, camera creeping closer to shed, shot of stairs going up, a gun is used threateningly, blood and gore,

• <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->Short films typically use genre because they can then be seen in terms of film form with each genre having characteristic features of style. Also, it makes a short piece of film easy to recognise what it is going to be out as there is only a small amount of time in which you can film. It makes short films target a specific audience and put them into a method of categorisation.
• Rick Altman approach to genre is that we need to consider to ways: Semantic and Syntactic. Semantic codes is the common use of standard iconography such a guns and knives in a horror. This is used in Bad Night as a gun is involved in the killing of his girlfriend. Also, a genre theory by Neale was that audiences get pleasure in genre depending on whether they see what they expect and getting something surprising. Bad night really was a surprising end to a film as we can hear her voicemail through the phone saying she was on her way home much earlier in the evening.   

Audience

• This specific short film is not very popular as it is only done by a small budget and by students. The number of views in total is 183 and has a rating of 1.0 out of 1.0. This may be because it is sufficiently short film and does not have a lot of thought put into what the plot is about.
• Also, the director has made other short films including a music video.
• The demographics on what sort of people would watch this short film are: aged between 18- 30 and are either still in education or full time job. They are either just married or single as the film would not be entertaining to them as they would not find being in bed and hearing the shed door crashing, a hazard for the police need to be called. I think the producers target audience is the same as characters, as it is although they can relate to the man thinking that his wife or girlfriend is back home but is surprisingly funny when he hears a voicemail to say she is not coming home.
• The lifestyle of this mans life seems to be an average working mans house living with his girlfriend or wife in a middle class house. They do not seem to belong to any religion due to he has a gun in the house and the women is a working female, It seems although he values family and relationships aswell as money as he wanted to protect his home.

Media Language

• <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->A dark sinister mood is used to show the shed banging loudly and the fast turning of the washing line. These both show that it’s a windy, out of control night and creates a scary mood for the audience to get them hyped up for something to happen.  Barthes enigma codes say it creates mystery in the film so the spectator has there full attention on the narrative.

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• The filming of the bed with two bodies lying in it sets the scene and lets the audience able to navigate whereabouts in the house the narrative is taking place. The dark dingy mood and old fashioned bed and cover seem as if it is an old house where spooky things may take place. This adds to the suspense of the horror as no characters have been shown. 

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