Research

Because the media which I am currently studying is short films, I decided to research short films, techniques used and how effective the films are.

Common conventions of short films are that they include a lot of non-diagetic music and diagetic sound to create an atmosphere that suits the film. The appeal to a wide audience, although some do appeal more to a niche audience, depending on whether they are within a commonly loved genre or not. Stereotypical characters are used within the films to create an automatic background to each character without having to explore it within the movie as there isn't enough time to build up a character profile of this extent. 

About A Girl 

The film opens with an effective editing technique of a 'texting' style display of the title, accompanied by the non-diagetic sound of keypad buttons pressing. A transition of a fade in  is then used. Throughout the camera is very clearly not steady and seems to be a home-movie style film. The camera angle is a close-up and it is of a young girl in iconic stereotypical 'chav' clothing, throughout the opening the diagetic sound is mainly the girl speaking, her accent is very common and represents a poor upbringing by the use of her language and coming from an neglected background.

As you can see from the screen shot above the lighting isn't very good, however it is effective as it is meant to be natural and is effective in creating a dreary background, reflecting the unhappy mood of the young girl.

Again, this long shot is used in natural lighting, however it is kept steady and this is because it is giving us an insight into the girl's background and life when she isn't talking to the camera. It establishes her background, the block of flats in the background is an indexical sign of a poor background. Even though the girl sounds more mature, it is established in these shots that she is actually only a child. The events which occur in these scenes invoke a sense of empathy and create a somber mood. The present absence of her Father when she is sat on a bench outside of the pub also invokes sympathy, as we at first feel that she is going to have a happy time with her Dad and then soon realise she is being neglected. 

An editing technique has clearly been applied to the last scene to create a dark, eery atmosphere, even though the lighting would have been natural. This juxtaposes the diagetic dialogue of her talking about eating ice creams etc.  Props of grocery bags and fallen metal have been used in this scene to show a lack of presentation in the area and has connotations of poverty and urban life. In the final scene there is a big twist, she throws a plastic bag into the river and a baby sinks to the bottom, this is emotional and shocking to the audience as, as the story unfolds there is silence, it is an effective part of the film as the silence echos the silence of the person watching from shock. 

Throughout this short film the stereotype of a young 'chav-like' girl with a poor upbringing is portrayed. It has been accomplished by the use of mise-en-scene. Her simple out-dated clothing is an iconic sign of this steretype, as are her huge hoop earrings. The diagetic dialogue used is also a key representation of this stereotype as she uses explicit language and speaks as if she has a bad attitude. 

This film fits into the genre drama as it is very dramatic and creates a lot of suspense.

Lovefield

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meeZifCVro

The opening credits for this short film are very simple but remain relevant as the film is lovely and heartwarming, reflected in the slow flickering effect of the title credits appearing and disappearing.

Lovefield works on assumption and stereotypes a lot, commonly seen conventions within short films, it uses the power of thought to make the person watching recall something that never even happened in the film, due to the fact it is so stereotypically horror.

The film opens with a cornfield, gently being swayed by a breeze, this could either be a relaxing thing or a tense, frightening thing. What I noticed is that the music doesn't start straightaway, it comes in after a little moment where you are able to wonder what the context of the film is going to be. The music is then very slow and tense, which automatically sways your opinion to the cornfield being a bad thing as stereotypically in horror films, when corn fields are shown with tense music it's usually when something bad is about to happen.

The camera then pans to a creaking sign as the music continues to intensify the scene. Creaking town signs have connotations of a town or place being deserted, it makes you imagine mothballs, rolling along the roadside, nobody around. They have also used a crow sitting on top of the creaking sign. For many reasons Crows signify death, they're black, they squawk angrily and they have also been used in films to signify death, it has been built upon in our subconscious and the film makers are using this to their advantage. 

Various objects have then been used to help the viewer build up their own interpretation of what has happened, although it isn't their own interpretation because the makers have specifically chosen the objects which have negative connotations in this kind of situation. They have used the sound of an engaged phone tone coming in getting louder and louder, replicating a worried human's heartrate, instantly making you panic, until the abandoned phone becomes visible and because the phone is abandoned we automatically assume something bad has happened to the person who had been trying to use it. A bag is lay among the corn, money spilling out of it, which we automatically assume has someone tried to mug her? A bloody cloth has then been laid out so we assume from the horror connotations that blood has that somebody is hurting the woman. Screams are then audible as a hand and foot come into sight grabbing the corn and twitching.

The music slowly ends and there's a jumpy surprise as a bloody hand slams a knife into 

the ground, by now it is assumed that the woman is dead, the music starts up again and is frantic as the Crow begins to squawk. 

A sweaty, dirty farmer then comes into shot, he is a stereotypical killer in horror movies which resemble this scenario, he's old and unkempt. He frantically runs to the car to find, what we assume is a bag to dispose of the body. The music reinforces all of our assumptions as it is tense and rapid.

This close-up shot of a woman's bloody foot, the farmer's dirty shoes and the knife are shown as the music heightens so that we assume it is about to show us the woman, who we assume is dead. 

As the farmer is shown in a low-angled shot, which connotes his power and authority, goes to place the blanket over the camera lens, enabling us to feel like the person he has 'killed' it cuts to a shot of him smiling and the woman alive and holding a newborn baby in her arms, the music suddenly turns happy and heartfelt.

It is only with this shot do we understand the full extent of what's been happening, the farmer's tractor is now in view and we realise the car belonged to the woman, who we now know had gone into labour. The long time fishot is now suddenly brighter and has connotations of happiness and joy. This is a juxtaposition to the entire film, where we were made to believe murder had been the key plot. 

The way that this short film has an unexpected twist at the end was a big inspiration to me when I deciding what to put into my film. 

I decided to conclude common conventions within the short films and learnt that common conventions used in short films include:
-Stereotypical portrayals
-An unexpected twist
-An easy to understand storyline
-Very emotive music, it's the music which helps pull the storyline along and helps progression




Research in around to Short Films


There is no census to say as to how long a film has to be, to be classed as a short film, nor is there anywhere that says it has to be professionally made. It can be professional, amateur, 40 minutes or 4 minutes, short films come in a vast variety. Although the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science has defined a short film as less than 40 minutes including end credits.

Between the 1920's and the 1940's short films and features were all you could watch at the cinema, longer films didn't come around until the 1940's when the ever-so-popular short films became a thing of the past a specialty for students, specialists and independants.

In the 1920's short comedic films starring such as Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were the way to go, it was how many of the famous features started out, as shorts.


Laurel & Hardy were favourites back in the 1920's and 30's & they are still popular today.


Short Films - Drama


Dramas are based upon real-life situations and deal with in-depth emotions that make the viewer empathise with the characters. The characters are based around ordinary everyday people who happen to be at a dramatic point in their life and help erupt deep emotions that an average person will/has felt.

Melodrama: a sub-type of drama films that uses plots that appeal to the heightened emotions of the audience. Melodramatic plots often deal with "crises of human emotion, failed romance or friendship, strained familial situations, tragedy, illness, neuroses, or emotional and physical hardship." Film critics sometimes use the term "pejoratively to connote an unrealistic, pathos-filled, campy tale of romance or domestic situations with stereotypical characters (often including a central female character) that would directly appeal to feminine audiences."^[3] 
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama_film

Melodramas are often referred to as 'women's films' as they are emotional and will appeal to a niche audience of women.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdeioVndUhs
Here is an example that I have found of a Melodrama short film. The key concept is that it plays on your emotions as a viewer and makes you feel sympathy for the young boy.