Narrative Structure: In terms of narrative structure, short films mainly have just one or two characters, using subjective narrative because of time constraints, though this makes it more personal and the audience are able to emphasise with the character more. In this sense, characters may “break the fourth wall”, making it even more personal by talking directly to the audience, also adding realism. An example of a short film where the fourth wall is broken is ‘Sign Language: Oscar Sharpe (2010), who was the Grand Prix, Reed film contest winner. The film is in the form of a mockumentary, focusing on a young man who works as an advertising sign holder with other leaflet distributors. It is his last day, working on one of London’s iconic streets: The busy Oxofrd Street and the film uses a linear narrative, showing him through his day using ellipses to show time has passed. Throughout the film, he produces a monologue, breaking the 4th wall which is in a style of a documentary; showing how underappreciated his job is and how he has fallen for a young female, leaflet distributor who he hasn’t yet spoken to. As a mockumentary it unconventionally has a lot of dialogue (for a short film), uses hand-held cameras, with 3 point lighting to make it more overexposed and more realistic. It is on Oxford Street meaning it would have to be an Open set, with a soft/whimsical score running throughout, linking with the positive themes of happiness and community. Although the overall feel of it is positive it brings up an underlying theme of unemployment of people with qualifications, that there is an overqualified youth who taken on jobs way below their qualifications. The titles are creative and have a post-script video showing the job he is now doing while the end credits are being shown.
Most narratives would be simply, single-stranded because there is no time for a multi-stranded narrative. In the short films I compared, a recurring narrative was a circular narrative; this is popular for short films as by returning to the beginning of the film pr reminiscing the beginning in terms of character situation, it emphasises the themes that are meant to be put across. Narratives in Short films, can be linear or non-linear as directors may use a non-linear narrative to experiment or make better twists. While linear narratives will use ellipses to show a great amount of time has passed, to keep in with time constraints. Not always, but plot twists tend to be used in short films, changing the audiences view of something or putting emphasis on a theme they are trying to bring forward. Restricted narrative, in combination with a plot twist has more of a greater effect as the audience are oblivious to up-coming events, only finding out something when the character does. A great example of a good twist with restricted narrative in combination with other uses of great elements is: Gravity (2004), directed by Collin Hutton which deals with three teenage boys who find a gun, resulting in them shooting a small boy. The narrative is circular as it starts with the young boy on the swing and ends with not only him dead on swing but the audio of the swing moving back and forth to create suspense. The twist in the story is that one of the boys shoot up into the air and the audience believe they have shot the young girl passing by but she turns out to be alright and the boys are relieved. Though the audience are reminded how gravity falls into place and by the end, the audience are shown that, that shot in fact killed the young boy who was the girls brother. This twist gives emphasis on the message of gun crime and youth deviance, adding to the social realism element that most short films have. This is also more realistic due to the low key lighting as it adds to this gritty social realism element and it is realistic because of the amateur/untrained actors that feature in this film as its clear it was improvised. This short film experiments with different cinematography techniques, for example a 180 degree tilt shot is used to represent the bullet going up into the air and coming straight back down while shots like point of view shots and editing such as cross cutting are used to show a variety of different combination of techniques. An aural motif (the sound of a swing moving back and forth) is used to remind the audience of the main event and emphasise the innocence of the child. This carries on even while the credits are on, to allow the audience to dwell on the chilling events and discuss it afterwards. I like the creativity of how the title of the film is shown at the end, as the ‘I’ represents the bullet that fell straight down, killing the small boy. The title ‘Gravity’ refers to the situation (gravity/seriousness of it) and also refers to the bullet and how gravity caused the incident. The purpose of this film is to act as a trigger film; and get people to be aware, discussing the subject seen in the film.
Titles are utilised creatively in this film, as it starts with basic titles: “Mustard Film Presents” and the titles entwine with the actual film, so titles show up on the products being scanned at the checkout. The title of the film “Bitch” comes up on a Daz box, while freeze frames are used to focus on each title that comes up. The end credits are synchronised with the same score from earlier and the end credits are in form of a shopping receipt, creating a circular narrative. 
The techniques used are using conventional camera shots like close ups, reaction shots, shot-reverse-shot. As a good editing technique, whenever the camera is focusing on the main character(s) or object(s) it blurs out the rest of the frame to emphasise importance or enhance view of what the audience is seeing. 3 point lighting is used, but there is a lot of dialogue, which is unconventional for a short film. Continuity editing, with a light-hearted score, also including simple ambient sounds of a normal supermarket is used to emphasise the surprising event that happens in such an ordinary location. The start of the score is synchronised with the start of the credits. There is a stereotypical black, Caribbean woman with pearl earrings, grey glasses, grey hat and a pale coloured, long cotton coat. Her origin is denoted by her accent and shoes the stereotype of the old ladies from there being loud, friendly and open.
Themes: In terms of themes, short films will utilise contemporary issues within the UK and turn them into themes like unemployment, war, multiculturalism, community, Knife/Gun crime, surveillance, youth deviance and many more. One short film that focuses on an important issue of youth and war is ‘Cherries’: Tom Harper. This short film is fifteen minutes long and has a linear narrative, telling a story of a class of young boys who have to under go compulsory training if they are needed for the army. The head teacher believes that this will give them discipline and the film shows the high levels of male aggression, which is evident in today’s young male society, though they turn into small vulnerable boys who are left upset when told the news. The short film uses a hearthrobing and emotional score when the boys are shown waiting in the line to be signed up, and low key lighting is used to create a dark atmosphere, adding to the element of social realism. The location is a school environment with large steel gates, many cameras and the boys have to wear tags: this all links in with the theme surveillance, which is increasing in contemporary Britain. The titles are simple and the end credits come up on the film clip while the audience is left with a running image of the boys’ teacher sitting down in their classroom, dwelling on the recent event. This type of end credits makes the audience think more about the short film into more depth, leaving them with the serious note of war.
Style and genre: In terms of style and genre, British short films use typical, well-known genres and adapt them, incorporating them into a clear narrative. One popular genre is Rom-Com, which is seen as an unrealistic portrayal of Britain. Famous examples are Notting Hill (1999), Love Actually (2003), and Hugh Grant who is both of these is a well-known actor for playing a role in these types of films. Although these films down give an accurate portrayal of the real Britain, stereotypes that other international audiences recognise is needed because its what they want to see and the film would not be successful in things like the US Box Office because they would not be familiar with these unconventional genres. Another genre, which is the exact opposite and more contemporary is: Social Realism. They are films that present the ‘Real Britain’, which many international audiences would not be familiar with, though short films would incorporate this to put across their message. Examples of this are ‘London to Brighton’ (2006), Dirty, Pretty, Things’, which deal with gritty issues or themes such as rape, drugs, immigration and prostitution. Films in this genre would not do well in the US Box Office, as international audiences would not recognise this as the ‘Real Britain’, with stereotypes, therefore rejecting the film.
In terms of techniques used like…
Sound: Sound is Short Films have little dialogue and focus more on the score to help drive the narrative. Aural motifs are carefully used to link events together so the audience are able to have a greater understanding within the time constraints.
Editing: Continuity editing is generally used throughout the film. Simple editing is used unless a director is experimenting, an example of this it is in Gravity where cross cutting was used. (Screenshot of cross cutting). Editing is minimal and wouldn’t involve Special effects.
Cinematography: Directors will experiment and use unconventional camera shots, angles and movements to portray their creativity. Shots such as extreme crane/tilt shots, point of view and birds’ eye shots are used to emphasise certain main events within the Short Film. The camera movement may be kinetic or handheld to add realism or fit with the element of social realism, or simply because of the low budget, as they would be using less profressional cameras, which would be DV handheld cameras. The location in a Short Film would be in a familiar location such as the home, a park etc unlike an extravagant beach for a Hollywood film. This is to create realism but also as there is a low budget, closed sets cannot be afforded. The lighting would often be high key to create over exposure that adds to realism.
Titles: They would be shown right at the stat, before the content, and the titles are though about more carefully in Short Films than a feature one. The titles will normally have something to do with the message, issue or theme that has been brought up in the film. A Short Film that uses a creative set of Titles is: ‘Bitch’
‘Bitch’, directed by Dir. Dom Bridges from Short Films is a story about who buys a tin of tuna and is waiting in the line when he is suddenly approached by and old, black woman saying he looks like and reminds her of her son. She shows him the picture and her ‘son’ is of an oriental background. She then goes on to tell the man that her son died a few years ago and her last wish would be to say goodbye to him, so she requests that as she leaves with her shopping she says “Bye son” and he say “Bye mum”. The man agrees, they do just that and the old woman leaves. As the man’s tuna is scanned the supermarket assistant says that will be “£247 please”, the man is confused why his tin of tuna would be that much and the woman explains that he’s paying for his “mum’s” shopping which she presumed because of their exchange. The film ends with the realisation that the old woman conned him, and the man calls out “what a fucking bitch’”.
Titles are utilised creatively in this film, as it starts with basic titles: “Mustard Film Presents” and the titles entwine with the actual film, so titles show up on the products being scanned at the checkout. The title of the film “Bitch” comes up on a Daz box, while freeze frames are used to focus on each title that comes up. The end credits are synchronised with the same score from earlier and the end credits are in form of a shopping receipt, creating a circular narrative. The narrative structure of the film is a linear narrative that is subjective and restricted, shown well as the moment of realisation of what the old woman has done is both the same for the audience and the main character. This short film has a circular narrative, as it starts with showing the Title of the film “Bitch” within the film and ends with the line: “What a fucking bitch”. It is also a circular narrative because it starts with the location of a supermarket and the end credits are in form a supermarket receipt.
The techniques used are using conventional camera shots like close ups, reaction shots, shot-reverse-shot. As a good editing technique, whenever the camera is focusing on the main character(s) or object(s) it blurs out the rest of the frame to emphasise importance or enhance view of what the audience is seeing. 3 point lighting is used, but there is a lot of dialogue, which is unconventional for a short film. Continuity editing, with a light-hearted score, also including simple ambient sounds of a normal supermarket is used to emphasise the surprising event that happens in such an ordinary location. The start of the score is synchronised with the start of the credits. There is a stereotypical black, Caribbean woman with pearl earrings, grey glasses, grey hat and a pale coloured, long cotton coat. Her origin is denoted by her accent and shoes the stereotype of the old ladies from there being loud, friendly and open.The purpose of this film is to build awareness/self promotion and to create comedy for the audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment