Initial Research - Curtis

Tick Tock

Edited, Written & directed by: Ien Chi

Date of production: January 2011

Found & watched on YouTube.

This is a very inspiring, touching short film. A young man realizes he only has a few minutes left; all worries leave his mind except what matters to him the most.

After looking through quite a few shorts films, this is by far the best one I came across, I was really impressed and inspired by the way this was filmed and edited. The way the story is told backwards (probably experimental) really paid off as it really added to the inspiring atmosphere, also using this technique helped keep me engaged and once It reached the end, it pulled the whole story together. 

Representation 

I would say that for this film, it represents more the young adult area the majority of the actors in this short film seem quite young and the story line is quite romantic and inspirational. Issues such as death are represented quite highly in this short film, the reality of what really is important in your life, and this is shown through the use of dialogue and actions. Nothing else matter for the main character apart from spending his last minutes with the women he loves.

It is hard to define a specific genre for this short film, in my opinion it is almost a romantic drama as it projects a real-life situation and realistic characters which really works well in conjunction with the main message of the film of concentrating on what really matters (the people who matter most). As a result of this it really influences the idea of social realism as real life events are actually happening and it puts the whole idea of the film in perspective.

The main character in the short film ‘Tick Tock’ is a young male; there is an idea of a representation that many people of this age may worry about too many things in their lives or that they do not appreciate what’s actually most important and until something happens to impact their lives in a bad way, they finally see the bigger picture. This is almost a stereotype that young male or just younger people of today in general take things for granted too much. Another representation is the costuming, it is almost like a stereotype of a ‘student’ casual t-shirt and jeans with a trendy, slicked hairstyle.

The expected audience for this film being young adults has definitely helped shape the representations of this film as in my opinion how different social groups see things is very different to others as it is how the generation is brought up to view them. So essentially it has been adapted to fit this purpose of audience as it is a modern film with young actors the same age as the audience, also the way it is represented in the way of ‘reality’ as if trying to issue the idea that anything can happen when reality strikes.

In terms of dealing with issues, this film is based on the issue that when faced with death, all expectations, pride, fear of failure and embarrassment are forgotten and fall off the face of earth and you are left with what really is important. By this message it is inspire the audience to not worry about the little things as much, focus on what is most important personally, appreciate what you’ve got. It shows this throughout the film, using the storyline at which events follow on, then we as the audience are hit with a quote by Steve Jobs which basically sums up what the film has been try to put across. 

Narrative

 The use of plot is very clever in this film, the plot of a man who takes something and only has a few days to live, who later realises it was all a joke is reversed so that we don’t as a spectator know what really happened to trigger the events till the end of the film by using a restricted narration. The story is played out to provide an informative, description of how it happened in greater detail to show the audience and understanding of the characters lives, the situation there in and what’s going on.

The films chronology order is non linear as it events are reversed; through the theory of Todorov, the film ‘Tick Tock’ is split into stages, it starts with the resolution and finishes with the equilibrium. This is to confuse the audience and to make them more engaged, it causes them to want to continue to watch it to see what the reason for him only having a few days to live. 

Genre

In this film I do not believe there is a main genre as it is hard to identify what category it goes into, there are of course elements of certain genres but to me there’s none that stand out to be the main genre. This is done through the use of the storyline and how it was put together; there are no real components to add a genre on as it is just like an everyday life situation. And I think this is why the director has done it this way; it does however leave the audience asking themselves what genre it comes under.

Short films typically use genre to help identify the audience appropriate for the film, as they are not usually well known therefore they are classified within the Genre window.

Semantic codes are often used in shorts films to help the audience identify the genre, for example in this short film the ‘box’ the main character is trying to give to his girlfriend implies that it is ‘Romantic’, this is the common use of iconography. 

Another theorist once said that ‘The success of movies all depends on what we expect and partly on getting something surprising and new (different)’ this theory applies to this films genre very well as the movie definitely is what the audience expect in terms of genre however what makes this film stand out is the surprise of receiving how the man got in his certain position at the end of the film. 

Audience

From the website it is on (YouTube) the film is obviously open to a wide audience to view, people who have access to the internet, research shorts films and enjoy viewing them are the people who it’s aimed at, the demographic I would say being young adults. 

The audience may be pleased with the film because it is inspiring, it is well put together and edited, the way it is constructed and the order which it is shown is very impressive. It suits a wide variation of audience as I don’t think it belongs to a Genre as well as the message being very powerful behind the story. 

This film has also been screen on quite a few other websites; I have found that the film has been categorized under ‘short films’ & Genres such as Drama & Action. 

This film has won the MovieFest Best Picture award in Hollywood; it was a worldwide contest where over 75,000 students participated. This award was designed to find the best student movie maker out there and occurs annually.

Ien Chi is a movie maker who created this film and many others; he is a young student who finds passion behind filmmaking. He feels filmmaking has enabled him to find more about himself and about the world around him, he works on his own and hopes in the next few years to have brought out his own feature film.

The Elevator

Directed by Greg Glienna

Produced in 2010

Found & Watched on YouTube

A summary of this film is a man who Is in an elevator is quickly get’s off when he realises so many ‘overweight’ people are getting on, he soon get’s on another one with no overweight people on, who turn out to all be ill when the door shuts.

I chose this film because unlike others I have seen, this one is very comical meanwhile clever at the same time. I really found this one exciting, although it was quite a simple idea.

Representation

I would say in terms of social group’s middle class, middle aged through the stereotype of the casual ‘office worker’. The only issues being represented is of the main characters lift phobia as too much weight is being bundled on.

Obviously this is being presented in the genre of a comedy so although there is an idea of social realism through personal experiences of lift for example, the over situation is unlikely however. On the other hand it is represented so well that the audience can almost picture themselves and almost step into the shoes of the main actor to imagine what it’s like as the film unfolds. 

The main male character in this film is portrayed as a stereotypical middle class citizen through the use of costuming (Black shirt & brown trousers). He is also represented to be quite a calm, polite and patient man through his body language when he’s in the lift. I would say he is presented as a mentally weak character due to him not having the willingness to speak up. 

The expected audience for this film has shaped the representation for this film in terms of humour, to the audience many can relate to this situation the characters in. Also the character is sculptured around the target audiences ‘stereotype’ in terms of the majority being placed into the ‘middle class’ category which in turn has meant that the representations have been sculptured to suit the audience.

The film does not deal with serious personal issues to say but the more unlucky humorous issue which fall into many situations, it’s almost the more awkward issue. The issue being the main character trying to get to his floor via the lift however he comes across some boundaries restricting him, one being too much weight in the lift followed by everyone ill in the next. It is a very unlikely issue which to pinpoint accuracy wouldn’t happen to a lot of people, it’s more in the area of bad luck which makes it funny. I think the director has based it on this because as a viewer you can imagine yourself in this situation, and meanwhile watching it almost causes you to question what you would do in that situation.

Narrative 

The plot is a comedy strip on the basis of a man trying to use to the lift to get to his floor meanwhile he has the worst luck which causes many barriers to come up and when he thinks he is finally sorted it, another situation arises. The events then relate to the story which goes into greater details to explain the story of what the man comes across, the effect of this on the spectator is that they get to see the story unfold in chronological order using unrestricted narration so we us the audience know what he knows so it’s almost like we are there with him. 

The chronology of the film is in linear order as being a comedy it, in my opinions need to unfold in this particular order to maximize the humor, the ‘disruption’ as it is to speak or the event which comes up to trigger it being funny needs to happen fairly near the beginning to ensure it can be played on throughout until the resolution or good ending occurs. 

In terms of the Todorov theory of Narrative, this film ‘The elevator’ has all the components which Todorov specifies, the equilibrium being him going to the lift, the disruption being too many overweight people getting in the lift, confrontation is him getting off it before it got too heavy & the resolution being all the ill people finally getting off. 

Genre 

The Genre in this film is very easy to identify due to the overall construction of the film and on the basis of the humorous storyline it is therefore a comedy. 

Short films typically use genre to help identify the audience appropriate for the film, as they are not usually well known therefore they are classified within the Genre window. 

The genre theory of Rick Altman sort of fits in to this film, he found that films of single genre have things in common with each other, an example of this is sematic codes, the idea of common iconography which in ‘the elevator’s’ case it’s not within the mise en scene but the actual story line. Audience know it’s a comedy when the focus of the film is on something humorous happening. In terms of Neale’s theory this definitely fits in to it as he believed it all depends on what we expect, and partly on getting something surprising and different. In terms of this film and with comedies in general, the audience always expect it to be funny so the elevator succeeds in that area and also with comedies you never really know why it’s going to be funny so there is a surprise in that. The elevator definitely surprised me as I didn’t know really how an elevator incident could be so funny.

The codes and conventions are used commonly for a comedy like this film; it all depends on conflicts, in particular in this case between a weak willed man and strong characters that don’t care. Much comedy arises from the success of the weak in deflating the powerful like the man getting off the lift before it gets even heavier and something serious happens. On the other hand, comedy is also a weapon against fear of the unknown or 'the Other' e.g. not knowing all the people in the lift were ill.

Audience

By being on the website YouTube, anyone can view the video simply by browsing and finding the video. By the creator of the film ‘meet the parents’ there profile is already bound to have quite a few views and subscribers so by putting it on here they already have a demographic to target. It is categorized under ‘comedy’ and the good thing about this is that this genre reaches out to a huge audience as everyone loves humour. Also by being a comedy it isn’t restricted to having an age boundary so it suits all ages and all genres. 

The audience may be pleased with the film because it is such a funny, uplifting film which puts you in a good mood. The comedy audience enjoy seeing other peoples misery is humorous way, and the overall situation is very unlikely but you as the audience can almost picture yourself there. 

 This film is screened on many other video streaming websites also under the ‘comedy’ category. However the majority of these sites have just direct linked the film from YouTube so it’s not really embedded right on the website. 

From searching the internet I have found that although this is a great short film, it has not won any awards. Maybe due to the director already being well known so he most likely wouldn’t enter competitions.

  Greg Glienna is an American director and screen writer known for being the creator of the original ‘Meet the Parents’. He stars in quite a few of the films he writes and directs including this one (The Elevator), he sold films he wrote to labels such as Universal and Warner Bros.

                                                         

Media Language

Something that really stood out for me was the technical codes that the camera angle stays eye level the entire video, this lets you see eye to eye with all the characters so you can see the main characters reaction within the crowd of people, as if you are in the lift as well which implements the feeling of greater interaction. Some symbolic codes I noticed were putting a building in the background; this makes it look like it’s in a city area so you know it’s an established business place. Another code is the numbers, the numbers symbolize that they are moving up through the close up on them and how they highlight once they reach each floor, but actually they are staying stationary as different numbers light up. Another specific shot  I noticed was a bird eye view medium shot of the main  character which shows us the audience how cramped it is in the lift to exagerate the amount of people in the lift.

Memories

Written, Directed & Edited by Radoslaw Sienski
Date of production : 2010
Found and watch on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85HDu87TGy0

An emotional, beautiful short film about a man who has got Alzheimer's disease. Slowly his memories are fading away shown by the use of celluloid, the man had so many rolls of it, only to be cut short when he reached home.

Representation

• In this short film i think the middle class are represented, this is because of the mise en scene, the costuming of the man in the film is quite formal and smart which leans him over to the middle/upper class however his house is semi-detached of what i can see, the interior of the house is dated & messy.
• The genre of this film being Drama, gives the story an idea of social realism towards the issue of diseases like Alzheimer's causing the audience to really consider the message behind the film and as a result it triggers a  deep,sad emotion towards people who suffer from this in real life.
• In terms of stereotypes, the man in this film is a positive stereotype of an old man suffering with Alzheimer's disease, the blank expression on his face leads us to help identify what he is suffering from. He is represented to highlight the issue which many others suffer from.
• The expected audience for this film would, in my opinion be young adults to middle aged adults of both genders. The audience being quite wide because of the films subject relating to a lot of people. I wouldn't say the expected audience has really shaped the representations in the film as generally these are the common representation which any person would associate to. 
• This film deals with the issue of suffering from Alzheimer's at old age, it deals with this issue as the main and only real character in this film has this condition of which as the film goes on you can see it affecting him.

Narrative

• The plot in this films case is in a linear order, presenting the man who has all of these wonderful memories to suddenly loose them, as a result comparing this to the storyline, it all happens in chronological order according to the plot. Although in more detail, as a result the spectator can view the sequences of the film according as they happen, event by event.Until we reach the final ending of which the man who us the audience feel deeply sorry for look through a photo album of which symbolic elements (the pictures) slowly disappear as if the mans memories are going.
• David Bordwell and Kirsten Thompson theory states that the story basis is the whole of the characters lives and this includes events we do not see in the film. As a result the plot only includes the events which are displayed in the film which helps create the story. When incorporating this theory into this short film 'Memories' it does make sense. We do not know all the events in this mans life, but what we do know are the main concepts and events which help us pick up on what is going on and who he is. 

Genre

• The only genre I can identify from this film is 'Drama' as it is a realistic situation where social realism is imbedded to form a life story in some respects, it just displays a series of events of where a mans memory is slowly killing vital memories of his past.
•  Short films usually use genre to help identify the appropriate audience for the film itself, as short films are not usually well known, to help them gain recognition they are normally subject to a genre heading where audience who want to visit that subject would go to that chosen genre category.
•  Technical codes were used in this film for example the cinematic usage of the way the camera blending into the celluloid image to create a dissolve into a memory he currently holds to indicate the real life feel as it provides a flashback indicator to the audience.

Audience

• As this short film was found on YouTube anyone who accesses the site can view it, as the video in terms of short film is 'award winning', the director probably thought it was worth uploading it as it may attract attention, of what it seems to have done due to its nearly 500,000 views. It is categorized as film & Animation so the demographic is anyone who wants to watch a quick short film, within the region of young adults - middle aged as this is usually the main demographic to access this site. 
• The audience may be please by the film because because with the title 'memories' it could be dealing with many other topics surrounding this subject. However, the way this short film touches you emotionally and causes you to feel deep sympathy for the struggling man really makes this film successful in the eyes of the audience. It puts life into perspective and I think the audience would likely appreciate that.
• This short film is also being screened on 'Yobi.tv', where it won an award in 2010, on this site it is under the category 'Alternative' as it doesn't really have a genre, it is also being displayed on websites such as Vimeo, filmschoolrejects & doyouknowwhoiam.com.
• The film has won the following awards: - Winner of Best Fiction Award at The Altered Images Student Post Production Festival in London 2010
  - Winner of the Yobi.tv Film Making contest 2010
  - Winner of the Best Young Filmmaker Award at Fastnet Short Film Festival 2010
•  adoslaw Sienski was born in Gdansk, Poland in 1987, After completing high school, he decided to move to England to pursue his passion (film-making). He signed up for a Video Production course at Bucks New University in 2007 and graduated in 2010. At the moment he is working on a horror/comedy feature as an editor/vfx artist/colourist meanwhile studying an editing course at the National Film & TV School in January 2011

Media Language 

• An example of a shot in this film was the extreme close-up (ECU) of the man face with a part of the celluloid in-front. This is a really strong, meaningful shot as he is staring into the celluloid at the memory he reminisces over. A tear is slowly emerging from his eye which creates a sad, emotional response from the audience as the celluloid is a replacement for his 'memories'. 
• Also the sequence of shots at the end of the film which represent good memories in his life, these are subject to fade into white effect for each clip, as a result this displays clear meaning to the audience as if his life is flashing before his eyes (hence the white fade), which in turn ends with a double wipe cinematic technique creating the illusion of his eyes closing.

 

Lovefield

Directed & Produced by Mathieu Ratthe

Date of Production: December 2009

Found & watched on YouTube

A misleading film where we are lead to believe this crazed man has just murdered a women, however this is not the case. The intimidating man soon changes from being a villain to a hero as he is actually helping a women give birth to a baby. 

The reason I picked this short film is because the construction of this film and the element of surprise and misleading is what I am hoping to achieve with my short film which I will be making this year. Analyzing a film with similar techniques to what i will be using, i believe, will really help me out. 

Representation 

• I would say in terms of social groups, lower class is being represented, the male character in the film is portrayed as a hillbilly which are generally lower class citizens & for the female, we don't know or see enough about her to pinpoint a social group on her. It doesn't really deal with any issue other than the idea of 'not believing till you actually know' as the audience we presumed the female was either being raped or killed by the man. We didn't know for certain but as the man was a 'hillbilly' and through the way it was constructed we thought we must be right, until a twist changed it all. 
• For this film I would say the Genre is Horror/Suspense/drama, this is because for the first half it has elements of deep eeriness through the setting, creaking chains of the sign, the bird etc. this mixed with the really tense non diegetic sound which then contrasted with the social realism at the end, he is actually helping a women give birth on a field. 
• The main character being the male is represented to be a evil, dirty murderer in the stereotype of a hillbilly through the mise en scene clothing e.g. jean overalls, white t-shirt, trucker hat & boots, this is done because generally Hillbilly's don't have the best stereotype so it was easy for the makers of the film to lead us to believe he is killing her and because of this we did believe he was doing a bad deed in which we found out he was doing the opposite and actually turned out to be a 'helpful farmer' (don't judge a book by it's cover) - message.
• The expected audience for this film would likely be young to middle aged adults as this is in some respects horror i don't think it would be suitable for young kids. The representation i think probably has shaped the representation for this film as these era's have been brought up around the stereotyping of such.

Narrative

•  The plot of this film is very simple, a man is trying to help a women give birth to her baby. However when considering the story it gets more involved, as although it follows the plot in terms of events it is constructed in a very clever way in which as the spectator we are lead down a different root as if we are viewing a completely different story to what is meant to be displayed, however we soon catch on to find out the man in not a cold hearted killer but a warm blooded savior!
•  The chronology of the narrative is linear as the events are played out in order to how they are presented in the plot through the story, it starts with the equilibrium and finishes with the resolution. Although the way the film is presented it may seem as though it is in this format. As a result the audience want to find out what the resolution is, has the man killed this women ? This is the question in the spectators mind meanwhile watching the eerie start to this short film so they want to continue watching it to see what the resolution is, being a big shock as it is not what is expected. 
• The narrative theory of Todorov is that a film should have both an equilibrium in this case is the black ravan bird making an almost eerie tweet, followed by the disruption being the close up of the women's leg twitching along with the diegetic subject sound of her screaming in pain and finally the resolution being the male character helping her give birth to a new born baby. 

Genre  

• In this short film 'Lovefield' the genres identifiable are in my opinion Horror/Suspense as elements of these genres are displayed in the film through eerie mise en scene - the deserted location and the costuming, diegetic/non diegetic sound e.g. the women screaming in pain and the black raven and the pure suspense of there being no real dialogue untill the end. 
• Genre makes short films categorize into certain identifiable sections so audience can target them and know what to almost expect, different to full length films as the audience cannot really watch a trailer to identify the genre. 
• This short film goes against the typical horror conventions towards the ending, however throughout the majority of the film it has the elements to pass it as a Horror Genre. The bloody cloth or rag prop, the black ravan cawing in a mysteriously eerie way merging with the desolate silence. These all help to form a representation of what we as spectators believe a horror is made up of.

Audience 

• Being YouTube, the audience is quite large as it is singly the most accessed video sharing website in the world, I would say the demographic being horror/suspense fans who are most likely access this film as it has a tag under the section 'Horror' although categorized under Film & Animation. 
• This audience would be very pleased with the film because they would more than likely, as the suspense builds up, to expect something jumpy or mildly gory by some degree. However the swift turn in events means they would be pleasantly surprised by the ending.
• Vimeo, noob.us, imdb, ragtube are sites which this short film is also being screened on, Lovefield was usually categorized as either independent or horror or even both. 
• As far as i know the film has not won awards, although i believe it should have, it has not.
• The director and production company is all one man, he currently makes a lot of short films, i understand he is a rising director/writer/producer and editor who judging on his work can be quite a hit.
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