Maya Deren

Maya Deren was a film theorist and a prominent American avant-garde filmmaker. She created the short film ‘ Meses of the afternoon’ a short, primarily experimental film featuring a lot of imagery, distinct camera movement and slow motion editing.

-The film uses a lot of symbolic imagery for the audience to come to their own conclusion with (the key, the knife etc.)

-The narrative is very repetitive

-The film can be interpreted in different ways

-Deren uses sound effects to emphasise action (the key falling down the stairs)

-The handheld camera and disorientated camera angles give a dreamy effect

-There is no dialogue or diegetic sound. The film relies on action, camera movement and non-diegetic sound to explain the narrative

-The sacrificial music, along with the close ups make it seem almost scary and unnerving to watch

Deren has publicly attacked Hollywood placing herself as the complete opposite of the industry’s standards and practices. Deren states “I make my pictures for what Hollywood spends on lipstick" and that Hollywood “has been a major obstacle to the definition and development of motion pictures as a creative fine-art form.” 

Avant Garde...?

Avant Garde is an experimental filming style, translating into French as ‘ahead of the crowd’. Directors of avant garde films challenge the codes and conventions of the typical ‘Hollywood’ feature films by experimenting with narratives, editing techniques, camera movement etc. Avant garde is about producing something out of the ordinary that hasn’t been seen before and leaves an audience thinking.

Avant Garde films are often made on low budgets by directors wishing to express a point or opinion. Audiences are often left confused by avant garde films due to the eccentric styles that the director has chosen to convey their message.

Alain Resnais-A French avant garde film director. His work explored the themes of memories and previous violence that one suffered using t

Jonas Mekas- Dubbed "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." Much of Mekas’ work was about events that had actually happened in his life and the life of those around him. Mekas helped to create a company that exhibited and distributed all independent films that were submitted to them which was rare at the time.

Spike Jonze - Multi talented media man

-Spike Jonze is an American film director and producer.

-As well as films he has also created feature lengths, commercials, music videos, television work and magazine work.

-He is best known for his feature length films such as ‘Being John Malkovich’ & ‘Adaptation

-He is the co creator and producer of the series and movie Jackass.

-However Jonze has directed a small number of short films including ‘Amarillo by Morning’, ‘We were once a fairytale’ featuring Kanye West and his most recent ‘I’m Here’ about two robots finding love.

How they get there - Spike Jonze (Short film)

Brief History of Short Film

Fred's Dead; Preliminary task

Freds Dead from BDC on Vimeo.

For the preliminary task I was partnered with Roisin and Callum. At the beginning of Thursday's lesson we had a short discussion about what would be the best way to make a short film withj the requirements Miss Pemberton had given us which were:

-Film a character opening a door

-They cross the room & sit down opposite another character

-They exchange dialogue

- Match on action

-Shot reverse shot

-180 degree rule

When first shooting we wanted to make sure we had good natural lighting and a place where there wouldn’t be too many students around because this would ruin our continuity. We were happy with our filming, however due to a technical problem with the camera we weren’t able to use the footage.

The next day we filmed again which was easier as we more or less knew what we would be doing. Instead of focusing on a big story we kept the storyline and action simple so that our main concern would be getting the continuity perfect. Even though the location wasn’t as good as our previous choice, it still worked out okay as it was quite an isolated area so we weren’t really disturbed and where there were lighting problems we were able to fix it with the white balance and exposure.

I think we were successful in producing very good continuity. This is because when filming we made sure to keep the action exactly the same and film the same shot about 4 times at different angles. Having a lot of footage meant that we were able to play around a lot more on Final Cut Pro and where there were mistakes in one shot, we could easily use another. A problem I found was when we did the long shots it was hard to hear the narrative and when we tried to raise the audio levels during editing it also brought up the sound of background noise so a boom mic was definitely needed.

Another problem was that we didn’t have the one ‘money shot of me with my head in Roisin’s lap. This was filmed over the shoulder and if it was a wide shot with both of us in, it would have been visually attractive and completed the footage nicely. 

Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry is a French Academy award winning screenwriter, film, commercial and music video director.

Gondry started out directing music videos for his school band -Oui Oui. After the band went their separate ways Gondry was approached by Bjork and asked to direct her music video for Human Behaviour. Bjork was impressed with his work and went back to Gondry for him to direct five more of her videos. This gave Gondry worldwide exposure and eventually the likes of The Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz etc. wanted him to direct their videos.

Gondry also directed commercials for big brand names such as Nike, Polaroid, Adidas etc.

Gondry also created new film techniques such as morphing and came up with the idea of using several cameras to take pictures at the time of somebody. Many people think that this technique was first used in 'The Matrix' however it was in fact used by Gondry in a commercial for insurance. 

Gondry’s abstract films are supported with his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise-en-scene. In much of his work Gondry has the theme of dreams with camera movements used to emphasise this. Audience expectations are challenged throughout his work because just when we think we know what is going on something completely unexpected happens. He also uses music to add to the audience’s feelings and to build tension.

Who is Shane Meadows?

Shane Meadows worked his way up from an ex-thief to one of the most known short film directors. After realising that he wasn't going to be a criminal mastermind, Meadows voluntarily worked at Intermedia Film and Video LTD in exchange for use of their filming and editing equipment.

Meadows used his friends and family in his video experiments and once he had completed a few short films his friends and family were impressed by his work and became enthusiastic about appearing in Meadow's work.

Eventually Meadows had a big collection of short films and with the help of his friends he set up an event called ‘Six of the best’ This was a way for Meadow’s and others short film work to be screened because prior to this event, there was no other outlet for short films to be viewed by the wider public. In time ‘Six of the best’ became very popular and became an international video festival called ‘Flip Side’.

‘Where’s the money Ronnie’ is probably Meadows’s best known short film and the one that gained him the interest of the film industry. The short comedy led the path for Meadows to make a channel 4 documentary about Bartley Gorman – a bare knuckle boxer friend of Meadows.

Eventually Meadows had made enough money to create ‘Smalltime’ a short following a gang of small time crooks. This was a perfect example of Meadows’s working philosophy – He stuck to what he knew and this gained the attention Meadows needed to make his first feature film ‘Twentyfour Seven’.

The popular film ‘This is England’ created by Meadows in 2006 was recently made into a small drama on Channel 4 which shows that Meadows is still relevant and developing as a filmmaker. Meadows continues to ‘stick to what he knows’ by returning to short films and focusing much of his work on his friends so that ‘can’t go far wrong’.

PostSecrets Task

'I hate people who remind me of myself'

A young boy hates the fact that he is gay. He is quite popular at school and nobody knows the secret he is hiding. He bullies to boys that are openly gay calling them insulting names. When he gets home we see him on a computer typing to someone in a chatroom and realise that he is on a gay chatroom.

Shane Meadows - The Stairwell

Shane Meadows created this 40 second short film - 'The Stairwell' for The NOKIA Shorts Competition. It was shot on a mobile phone and in my opinion a perfect example of the freedom short film allows a director to have.

-Meadows uses his own version of a steadycam by having the camera attched to the woman's body. This creates a floaty, panicky feeling for the audience.

-The male character is produced from behind. His face is hidden, adding to the mystery and automatically making the audience assume that he is dodgy.

-The music played a big part in manipulating the audience's expectations as it was quite dramatic, building up tension only to reveal the anti-climax.

About a Girl

In this lesson we watched the short film 'About a girl' filmed for the BBC and produced by Janey de Nordwall.

The opening titles are done in a mobile phone text style already allowing the audience to pre-conceive ideas about the film. As mobiles are quite modern and texting is associated with young people the film may be targeted or surrounding young people/teenagers. The title is also a contrasting connection to the mainstream, high budgeted 'About a boy' film.

It opens up with a young girl silhouetted standing in a field. As she's in an isolated field by herself the audience asks themselves 'Where are her parents, Why is she alone while it's getting dark?'She is singing Britney Spears - Stronger giving the impression that she is just a young innocent girl. However the songs she is singing 'stronger' may have underlying meaning to the film.

In the next shot there is an instant change in how she is portayed. She shows a hard exterior and through the location and costume we see that she is from a poor background as she's wearing cheap looking clothes and is walking through a council estate. She's shown to be not as naive as previously portayed when talking to the camera about her dad looking for work and claiming to be grown up because 'I'm 13'

Whilst sitting with her dad the audience can see through their body language tqowards each other that it is a forced relationship on her dad's part. Through her voiceover and cutaways this is reinforced as she's neglected and ignored yet still idolises him.

On the bus with her friends she subtle insight is given into what may happen when she claims that she isn't innocent.

It isn't until right at the end of the film that we see where she is walking to and throws the plastic bag into the canal. The shock of seeing a dead baby shows just how much she has gone through in her short life and that she is a product of her envirionment following her mother's actions of drowning the dog. The camera films the plastic bag being trapped symbolising her and that she will never be able to leave her environment despite her dreams of being a singer.
Reflecting back on the title it is clear that the film is about girls all over the world who fall victim to the vicious circle and become products of their environments.

Prophetic fallacy is used because throughout the short the weather is grey and dull and for the first time the sun comes out after she throws the baby in the canal.

I thought this film was very effective as it was able to portray a message about society whilst still keeping the audience engaged. Although we gathered that she had come from a hard background and had to deal with quite a lot at such a young age, the ending was still a complete shock.

Prey from BDC on Vimeo.

I thought Prey was an effecive short film.Following the codes and conventions of other shorts, it is less genre specific and is shot in a documetnary style- featuring a main protagonist and her story. It also managaes to raise awareness on a growing issue about illegal cabs.

The mise-en-scene gives off a good vibe as the character is quite upbeat and has smudged makeup as if she had a good night out. However it becomes clear through the change in her tone and use of cutaways as flashbacks that everything isn't as it seems.

The use of camera movement in this short film is prominent as the camera is static when on the protagonist. It isn't until she reveals the bruise herself that the audience are able to see the full extent to what happened.

Short films chosen by class

In class a few people showed a short film that they particularly liked for various reasons. They were...

- Sorry I'm Late
- Skin Deep
- Spin
- Sign Language
- Envy
- New Boy

The Black Hole

Mise-en-scene
Dull & dim lighting, empty office - Tells audience that the time is way past office hours

Protagonist
The protagonist doesn't use any speech so we rely on his body language and actions to  narrate the story.
He stands completely still as if frozen looking extremely tired.
He sighs to emphasise his tiredness
He checks his watch which shows that he wants to leave

Message
Like many short films ' The Black Hole' follows the conventional method of portraying a message. This short is a metaphor for 'The force of Greed'. We can tell through use of sound effects and actions that the black hole is pulling the protagonist in like a magnet and that ultimately, his greed became his downfall.

Notice opens up in a dull isolated location. The mise-en-scene allows us to assume that the film has something to do with a shop from the door with the sign 'Entrance Trade Only'.

The protagonist comes into view wheeling a heavy cart and is clearly struggling. She wheels the cart into an empty stock room piled high with other boxes. From this we can see that this deserted stock room is hr workplace. The first time her face comes into view she looks miserable. The camera goes on to show a box of sweets labelled ‘Funny face lollies’ with a funny face on the side. Other people may have found this funny; however the protagonist shakes her head at the box and appears to look even more miserable.

She is dressed in loose fitting, cheap looking clothes so the audience are able to gain an insight into the type of person she, her face is red and puffy

From her appearance the audience are able to gain an insight into the type of person she is. She is dressed in loose fitting, cheap looking clothes so she doesn’t seem to take care of her appearance. Her face is red and puffy as though she may have been crying. On top of this her hair is in two ponytails like a little girl which symbolises that she may be vulnerable.

Watching her pack the boxes away onto shelves that are full of boxes it is obvious that her job is monotonous. When she’s walking for her cigarette break it’s clear that this is routine for her as she walks while looking to the ground so she knows the way to her specific spot. While walking to have her cigarette the camera captures her surroundings. We are able to see more into her life and from the matching, dirty looking houses with old furniture outside of them; it shows she lives in a poor area.

When she reaches her cigarette spot she takes a long drag then is disturbed by a girl speaking to her. From the change in camera angle we can see that the girl who speaks her was right next to her but the fact that the protagonist is visibly startled shows that she is in her own world, and is quite a nervy person.

The girl continues speaking to her and the protagonist doesn’t reply and looks uneasy. It makes the audience think that perhaps she isn’t used to people speaking to her.

Although the girl has a community payback jacket on she seems quite jolly and forward, making jokes and asking for a cigarette. We learn that the protagonist’s name is Hayley by the community service girl reading aloud Hayley’s name badge. I think the fact it takes this long to hear her name that Hayley feels she is defined by her job.

Hayley opens up to this stranger and claims that she doesn’t want her job because her dad got it for her. She looks uncomfortable talking about it as though she wished she never said it.

Later as she is leaving work the screen goes black, giving the audience the sense that we might be shown her home life. However the next shot shows her back at work taking down stock. This reinforces that this is her life day in, day out.
Whilst working, she looks around to make sure no one sees that walks out to have a cigarette. It seems as though something so small is the highlight of her day and makes the audience feel pity for her.

When Hayley gets to her cigarette spot the community service girl isn’t aware she is there. From Hayley’s facial expressions it is clear how hard she is finding it to speak to the girl and obvious that she doesn’t usually engage in conversation with people.

As Hayley and the community service girl start speaking, it becomes apparent that Hayley is clearly troubled about her father. It seems that he may be dominant over her as she gets snappy about him and not being able to quit her job.

When she goes back to her workplace she goes into the toilet and looks into the mirror as though battling with herself.

It goes to a black screen then back to the first shot we see of outside her workplace, again emphasising the tedious routine she is in. We see Hayley smile for the first time when she goes on her break to see the community service girl. The girl is paints Hayley’s hand and they both leave their handprints on the wall.

Calm and relaxing non-diegetic audio begins and plays while different shots of the pair talking and laughing are shown. The music stops as soon as Hayley realises she is late and runs off which could represent that it was magical for her.

It is the next day and we see different shots of other workers in their departments looking unhappy. The shot shows that nobody is there where Hayley works and we see her walking out for a break looking really happy. Already the girl has had a huge impact on her life as Hayley can’t wait to go and see her.

When she realises the community service people aren’t there she looks distraught and sad music plays. She places her hand in the imprint they left which symbolises that she is not alone in the World. Instead of going back into her workplace she walks away showing that something inside her has changed.

Steal Away Part 1

Steal Away Part 2

Steal Away opened up in the style of a 'Bank heist' crime genre of film with the upbeat, mysterious sounding music.

Within a minute the climax begins following the codes and conventions of a quick equilibrium in short film.

The audiences expectations are constantly challenged throughoput the short film as the camera quickly moves from one focus to another. It goes from a POV of the driver onto following the female protagonist. It is then that an exaggerated slowed down effect is used showing the fear on her face. Later in the film the light flicks on and off when the protagonist is 'cleansed' to symbolise his sins being forgiven The convention of special effects is typically used in short film to emphasise emotion or an event in a short space of time.

There is a lot of subtle symbolism used throughout steal away, however the meaning doesn't become completely evident until the end. The bright and harsh lighting used in the tunnel and on the train represents heaven and the 'white light' seen before reaching heaven. When the couple are escaping, they go down several flights of stairs,representing that they are going down to hell.
The earlier religious iconography of the cross hanging from the car also becomes more understandable by the end of the film.

Colour is used to represent sin on the stolen money and the protagonists. At the end when it becomes apparent that the protagonist has died, itleaves the audience thinking about religion and sings. Messages and ideology is a convention used in short film and i think this short film managed to do this particularly well.

The Bouncer

After watching The Bouncer I picked up on a few effects regarding the lighting, camera movements and sound.

Constant quick change of camera angle and protagonist’s fast speaking makes audience feel as if they need to keep up. This effectively sustains audience engagement.

Difference in lighting between the two locations… The gym has harsh bright lighting which enables the audience to view them fully for what they are. Just human.  This lighting takes away the mystery and ‘untouchable’ aura that the dim nightclub lighting gave them.

When John is killed there isn’t any diegetic audio which effectively builds intensity. For the first time in this short film we aren’t trying to keep up to the fast paced camera movements and speech. Instead we are able to just reflect and take in what is happening. 

Wasp

Wasp by Andrea Arnold

Oscar for best short film 2005

"I felt so privileged to have a thousand people watching my film on the biggest screen I've ever seen," says Arnold.

Wasp tells the story of a young mum, who, unable to find a babysitter, leaves her four young daughters outside a pub while she's on a date.

The image that sparked the film was that of a wasp crawling into a baby's mouth.

"The other nominees said they made their films for this reason or that - they had something to say. But I just start with an image I can't shake off, work outwards from that and see what comes out," she explains.

Watch Wasp HERE

Source: www.news.bbc.co.uk

Sony V1 Camera techniques

In todays lesson Ashley gave us a little tour of the Sony V1 camera functions.


-GAIN
-FOCUS
-EXPOSURE
-WHITE BALANCE
-SHUTTER SPEED

 He also introduced us to some camera techniques such as focus pull.

Tube Tales:Horny

In Horny the audience are engaged automatically as it more or less goes straight into the climax. The camera movement is going in the opposite way of the travelling people adding to the fast paced and upbeat atmosphere. Also adding to this is the upbeat music adding a sense of mystery.  The tracking camera shots make the audience feel as if they are another passenger taking part in her journey as well as the protagonist directly addressing the audience.

Horny uses camera movement to emphasise the points made by the protagonist. It focuses on facial expressions, body language and shots of parts of the protagonist's body to reinforce the taboo thoughts that are going on.

The lighting used is harsh and bright just like the lighting in tubes and showing that the passengers are completely open and anything can be seen. It symbolises the vulnerability as they have nowhere to hide.

Quotes on Short film

"Spare economic narratives, interesting storytelling, well structured work which draw in the audience quickly" -Catherine Des Forges

"Short films are long films that end earlier. A good idea, succintly told, less is more" -Gareth Evans

Mainstream Film V Short Film

What is short film?

In class we talked about the codes and conventions we associate with short film.