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.



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.

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

• 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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Meg Easterbrook Initial Research

1) ‘I Am Butterfly’ – Carlos Florez (2012)

This is a heart-felt short film which I found on www.youtube.com, about a mother and a daughter in America. The story starts of as a happy family and the voiceover on top of the daughter and policeman indicates that the child’s mother abandoned her in a busy city.

I chose this film because it is very recent and grabs at your heart strings, I was also very intrigued about the way it is set out and how the narrative progresses the story until the climax at the end. I think Carlos Florez was very creative when making the short film as he takes a different approach to telling the story compared to other short films.

Representation

-       The mother and daughter seem to be from a middle class social group because they are wearing nice clothes and appear wealthy. However, the voice over from the little girl says they have no money and ‘mummy wants to be a model’ which makes you realise that they are from a working class background and probably on minimum wage or benefits as the mother hasn’t become a model. The little girl also mentions that they rely on the mother’s horrible boyfriend for money.



This is a still from the short film, showing the closeness between mother and daughter.

-       This is a positive stereotype for the working class because you can’t see it through mise en scene, you’re just told through voice over narration.

-       The expected audience of the film, being mainly females probably think about the representation in a different way. The mother is wearing a nice dress, in a nice clean city and is with her young daughter. You wouldn’t think by eye that she is a working class mother, and if you watched it on mute you wouldn’t associate her at all with the working class.

-       The short film definitely deals with issues, as it is a mother struggling with what she wants to do (model) and having a young daughter who she appears to adore. She abandons her child in a busy place, which happens a lot more than we think in the modern world, however maybe not in this way. I think he chose this scenario because we would never guess it and it is there to shock the spectator.  

Narrative

-       The narrative is progressed by the voice over of the police man and ‘Butterfly’ the little girl and make the film make sense. We don’t know what’s happened to her mother, although we know something has, and it’s only when we see her mother leave then the whole voice over and short film movement make sense.

-       The moving image is linear in the narrative although it uses ellipsis to get rid of the unimportant parts of the narrative. This technique is even more important in short films as they have a limited time to get it all in.

-       The chronology is linear because they don’t start with the ending and progress the story on until the climax right at the end.

Genre

-       The genre for this short film seems unidentifiable as nothing scary or funny happens in it to determine it as a comedy or horror film. However, because of the cliff-hanging ending, I suppose it has an element of thriller in it. The piece is very dramatic and plays with your emotion but doesn’t really belong to a certain genre.

-       Short films typically use genre to determine what you are going to get in sometimes less than five minutes. There are thousands of short films they each don’t all share the same genre, and some are even hybrids, and they all take different routes in telling their stories.

-       Genre is very helpful in short films because it cuts out all the unimportant parts of film which are used to establish the genre, such as a thriller opening of a crime that has been committed etc.

Audience

-       Here, the director of the short film actually gets involved and writes the audience about the film.

-       I think the audience for the film are middle aged parents, who can relate to the film. One of the people comment about having no father around and it being ‘just another modern day family’ which suggests that the person who commented is older and more aware of the rising amounts of single parent families. This isn’t an issue that teenagers and children think about.

-       The short film is shown and spoken about across Flickr, which shows that maybe he’s trying to reach a younger target audience, as many people of the older generations don’t know this exists or don’t use it.

-       Carlos Florez has won an EMMY award for his work, which is a big achievement, especially for a short film director.

Media Language

-       I find the last sequence very interesting because when the mother leaves the daughter in a weird tunnel thing in the middle of a street, you get point of view shots of the daughter looking out and watching her mother abandon her. Florez has used this to put yourself in a young girl of about 4’s eyes and make you feel sympathy for her.

-       Also in this scene, the most heart-breaking part of it all, the point of view shot of the girl looking through the glass is distorted, to show the grooves in the glass, but also to show the distortion of what is happening and how unnatural it is for a mother to just leave her young daughter on the street. I find this particularly interesting because it is clever use of camera work and this position and place has been used purposely. This generates a response from the audience because it’s so gripping and shocking that it grabs your attention.

 

2)  ‘Bitch’ (Dom Bridges 2009)

I chose this comedic short film because it is so funny and I find it particularly creative because of the narrative, and well written. It involves a middle aged man in a super market queuing up to pay for a few bits when he’s approached by an old African lady in front of him in the que. She asks him to call her mum after selling him a story of her dead son, and because he does, she cons him into paying for her shopping. The short film is very intriguing and grabs your attention from just the title.

Representation

-       I think the lower/working class are represented in this short film. This is shown by them shopping in a cheap supermarket such as ALDI or LIDL. We know this because as the camera is focused on the conveyor belt, all the packaging looks cheap and it seems unsaturated. They are also wearing average clothes instead of suits etc which would show us that they’re middle class.

-       Because it’s comedy, the characters don’t really need to be posh, especially for this setting. This makes genre important to the audience so that they can see their favourite genre and relate to the characters, instead of looking at a different class to them.

-       The male is represented as a stereotypical middle aged man who’s just popping into his local supermarket to get a few bits. He looks tired and scruffy which represents his social class. However, although he is not admirable, he is represented positively, but still maybe an easy target for this old woman.

-       I also think the representations are a bit backward and unexpected. It is usually portrayed as middle aged men scamming old women, but in this instance, it’s the other way around.This makes us off guard, and because the roles are reversed, we aren’t expecting the final outcome.

Narrative

-       The chronology of the narrative is linear, as there is no use of flash-backs for example, and it doesn’t start at the end etc. This is typical for short films as being under 5 minutes, there isn’t a lot of time for them to be jumping around time and it would confuse the spectator.

-       The short film ends on its climax, with the man realising that he’s been conned and  says the title of the short film ‘bitch’ this is to make us link between the title and the film as it could be unclear.

-       Ending on the climax is good because it leaves us on the edge of our seat and we don’t know whether he’s going to pay for her shopping or if he’s going to run after her. This is typical of short films as they don’t have a lot of time to show us the extent of what happens.

Genre

-       The genre is definitely comedy but we don’t really know this until the ending, when it climax’s. After the short film, the genre is clearly identified because it will make you laugh and everything will make sense.

-       Short films typically use genre to cut out the introduction and typical conventions of short films. In this example, genre is hard to tell from the title, because ‘bitch’ isn’t a very nice word, making you think of violence or crime, but it turns out to be funny. Bitch is no longer such a bad word, but used in the right context it is.

-       The genre is shown also through mise en scene, as the setting is in a supermarket, which although is not funny, is not a typical place to have a thriller or a horror film. All the conventions add up to show the genre, such as the items on the conveyor belt are a bit random, such as dog food and baked beans, and we know it’s not going to be 100% serious.

Audience

-       You can see the difference in audience feedback from the two short films. These comments seem to be from younger, teenage audience who seem to have stumbled across this short film by accident. This is probably one of the reasons this short film was called Bitch, to gain the right target audience, because teenagers are more engaged with comedies etc.

-       I think the audience would be pleased by the film because it swears, which is still relatively new for younger teenage audiences, and it is very funny and unexpected. This attracts them to these type of short film.

-       This short film was shortlisted in the ‘Best Short Film’ category in 2008 at the Rushes Short Film Festival. This is an achievement because it not only gains publicity for it, but it shows how creative and interesting it is to many different people, including film critics.

Media Language

-       The best part of the film is the ending, but the part in the middle when this crazy old lady is showing a picture of her dead ‘son’ is very interesting and creative. She shows a picture of an oriental man who looks nothing like him. This generates a response of comedic values, whereas the audience or spectator will probably laugh, but be more indulged to as where this woman is going with her madness. A close up of the picture shows us that he does in fact look nothing like him and we start to feel sympathy (like the character) for this woman who has probably gone mental.

 

3)  Blush

I chose this short film becuase it really intrigued me and confused me, which is a good thing when it comes to short films. I also chose it because our group are thinking about having a silent short film, and this one only has music over the top and a few foley effects, no dialogue. This is also interesting because the team ISO Pictures has decided to use a plain white background behind, and just the two actors on props. This whole short film is filled with suspense, and the five key concepts make it really thrilling.

Representation

- We don't learn anything about the characters because the sequence seems to happen over time, yet we don't really know anything about them due to their being no dialogue. However, we can guess what their like with what happens in the sequence and the mise en scene.

-Red is the prodominant colour, which signals love, lust, blood and danger. This makes us suspect something is going on, however we think it may just be love and lust when the woman is in her underwear and they are having an intimate moment.

-The male is obviously dangerous as we see him lure her into his studio, sleeps with her and then killers her. This makes us realise that first impressions are often wrong as he just seemed like a man who wanted to hit on her at a party.

-The two characters are represented differently throughout the film, because we assume she is a high class woman while she's drinking a cocktail at the party, then she seems very easy when she takes the mans invitation at a photo shoot then sleeps with him, then we feel sympathy when she is the victim of murder, and these are all conveyed to us in 5 minutes.

-The woman seems to be in control of the situaution because it is always the man moving around her, with her as the main subject, until the very end when he becomes the dominant character.

-The silence of the piece makes sure we don't know too much about the piece, and cannot form too much character representations through what they say etc.

Narrative

- The piece seems to follow a linear, chronological narrative, except from when we see the man running at the begginning and we don't really know what that is about, but all becomes clear in the end.

-We don't know too much of what is happeneing, and we can only assume, but we don't know if the narrative and short film is taking place over the same day, in only a few hours, or if it's throughout the course of a few years. The characters are wearing the same clothes, but this could be because of their character traits and because it's a short film we have to be careful not to confuse the spectator.

-I think the narrative covers a few hours, as this all happens too quick and we dont get an idea of whats actually happened to make the story turn so bad. When the woman picks up the lamp to through it at the man, we would assume that they have ahad a fight, and have maybe been together a while to get this intamatly angry with each other, however when he shoots her, we assume that she was trying to protect herself.

-There is no voice over or any dialogue to progress the story on, however there is a heartbeat and a dodgy tune in the background which suggest that it is a thriller piece and something bad is going to happen.

Genre

- The genre of the piece is obviously a thriller because of what happens at the way, and the audience is left guessing all the way through it.

-At the beginning of the short film we suspect that the film is a romance, because of the connotations of red and the scenes of the only two characters, however we don't really know until the end when we see that the red colour means danger, blood and horror.

-Genre is used in short films to determine what is going to happen and what it's all about, and sometimes to define certification. While I was finding a short film, I searched up thrillers as I think it would be important to research if we decide to make a thriller short film (which we're thinking about) so I already knew that the film was a thriller, however it was made clear in the film.

Audience

-Audiences are very important to all film makers, and especially short film makers as they have a much narrower audience and not as many people have access to them. The audience for this particular short film is probably male and females (but mostly males becuase of the genre and themes and issues raised) from late teens to middle aged people. This would be because the story is still quite shocking and not suitable for a younger audience and they probably wouldn't be intrested in it, and stories such as these are not common for elderly people to watch.

- I think the audience would enjoy this film because the climax of it is very unexpected and almost frightening which shocks the audience.

-The short film was in the running of a competetion to become the Best New Short Film USA so it obviously stands out to a wide audience who are interested in the genre and short movies like these.

Media Language

-I think the short film was very successful because of the use of mise en scene, lighting and colour. The colour red connotes a lot of different things, and in this film we realise that it's representing all the connotations. However the most common use for it is blood and danger, which we find out at the end that this is the main reason it's been used.

-The themes and issues of the piece are very unique and leaves us with a thought in our minds, which is very good for a short film to have. The issues of sex with strangers, and danger in what people tell us is evident in this piece and makes the spectators shocked.

- The silence in the short film, with only foley effects and music in the back ground is very effective because we don't get a sense of what is happeneing until we see it happen. These are very effective and it will be something we consider doing when it comes to our short film

 

4)  Dream Girl

I chose this short film because it was interesting in the fact that it only involved two characters, and was silent throughout. This is an idea which our group are interested in. I found the short film on Virgin Media Shorts and I watched it in the first place because it was a Tivo Award Winner. This made me expect lots of things to happen within it, but it didn't which is suprising and shocking to the spectator because you don't get a storyline, just a piece or start of a story. It's only two minutes long so the rest of what happens is left to you.

Representation

-Because there is no dialogue between the only two characters, we have to assume things about the people. We can obviously see their gender, and the age can be guessed. The female seems to be about 18 years old, of caucasian ethnicity and of the middle or working class. We know this because she is using public transport but looks respectable.

-The male in the short film seems slightly older, maybe 22 years old, and is from possibly African decent. He seems to be in a lower class as the female, though probably high working class. We can make these assumptions through their costume and location.

-It's quite touching that the characters are from different backgrounds, because it shows to us that two complete strangers can share an intimate moment on a very normal occasion, where as 50 yuears ago, it would have been a totally different story. The director has chosen these characters for a purpose and I think this may be one of the reasons why.

Genre

-Although the genre of the piece is said to be 'other' on virgin media shorts, I would argue that it is a romance, and this short film seems to be only part of a story which could be carried on in a sequel.

-It isnt a regular occurance that two complete strangers share an intimate moment on public transport such as this, and when the male character gets off the tube train, he then changes his mind and goes back to sit with the girl.

-That seems to be connotations of a love story, so I would argue that it's a romance.

-I can understand why Virgin Media Shorts call it's genre 'other' because it is made out to be just a one time moment on a train, which some people could find funny and others feel like there is no genre to it at all. However if you look at the proximity of the characters and the way they are often shown in two shot (even though they are sitting next to each other) this shows us that there is some chemistry there, and we are believing that they are a couple.

-If we didn't get the beginnning of the story when the girl enters the train, we would assume that they already know each other and are possible boyfriend and girlfriend.

Narrative

-There is no voice over to direct the scene, which would propell the story on and give us a clear sense of the narrative, however we do get an understanding that this short film is set over just a couple of minutes. In other films, such as Blush, we don't know if the events are chronological. Here we understand through mise en scene and other aspects that it is.

-The sequence follows a linear path, in which we get all the information we need. The short film is only just over 2 minutes long, so there is not a lot of time there for the directors to add in flash backs, or make it a circular narrative.

-I personally do not belive that the short film Dream Girl follows any of the narrative theories, such as Todorov or Volgler, as there is no journey, or disequilibrium. However I could see Todorov's theory being argued here, and it could work if the scene wasn't so simple and something bad actually did happen, but the man exiting the train and getting back on seems to normal to be called a disequilibrum and resolution.

Audience

-I think the audience for this short film would be anyone who has an intrest in films, and in particular short films.

-The film won the Tivo Award, which shows that there is an audience for the short films, and people do vote to see people with talent get recognised.

-I think the main audience for these films are people who create short films themselves too, as this whole website was created for people making short films.

-At the beginning of the short film, the advert said 'Virgin Media Shorts, Champoining Undiscovered Talent' Which shows there are people behind this who watch all these short films to find people who are capable of making good films.

-I think the main audience would be females, from tenaged to about mid twenties because the title is 'Dream Girl' and this is typically a thing which females find cute and desirable. I don't think older people would enjoy it as much, as they're not as much into romance and finding love in everyday situations.

Media Language

- I think that the film is very interesting because it targets an audience of people without even considering itself having a genre (which I would argue it would) and it has a particular theme running all the way through it. I would say the film is finding love, or an unexpected encounter, in a common place.

-The location was particulary chosen to reach out to millions of people nationwide who get the tube to work or anywhere everyday, and so many people felt like they could relate to things like this happening.

-I loved the short film because I felt it was so simple and yet so nice that it made me smile when I found that nothing really does happen to suprise or shock you, it just makes you feel happy.