In today's lesson we looked at a number of things to do with short films. We started by defining what a short film is, and then looked at what the most common narratives, characters, budget, styles and genres of short films were. We also briefly looked at what the differences between a short film and a feature film was, we found that generally it was the length, budget and size of cast and crew. All of these things are usually bigger in feature films, especially the budget and size of crew, but length really defines the difference between the two.
The films we looked at in the lesson a few short films to see what kind of themes they explore and give us ideas about what we could include in ours. The films we watched were ‘The Stairwell’ by Shane Meadows, ‘Bouncer’ by Geoff Thompson, ‘About a Girl’ By Brian Percival, ‘Gasman’ by Lynne Ramsay, ‘The Terminal Bar’ Stefan Nadelman and ‘The Last Man on Earth’ by Carlo Ortu.
The Stairwell By Shane Meadows
This 45 second film was shot by Shane Meadows on his mobile phone. The short takes place in an eerie looking stairwell in what we assume is an housing estate. The action starts right away as we see a nameless and faceless character rushing down from the top of the stairs, the tension is built further as another character is introduced heading up the stairs. In the next short while the shots are cut quicker and quicker. As a viewer you begin to assume that the character from the top is going to confront the person making there way up the stairs. As the editing meets a climax and shots are cut between quickly, the characters them meet on the stairs and hit heads this is a simple and powerful short films as it builds tension in the viewer in such a short space of time, and provides an ending which the viewer is unlikely to expect.
Bouncer By Geoff Thompson
This film includes well known hard man Ray Winstone as the main character. The film is shot all from the point of view of the bouncer, as he goes about his everyday job, informing the viewer on the dangers of the job and the risks they experience everyday. The viewer is given a clue to the ending when he reveals that one of his colleagues and friend John was killed. Later the film reveals that the way that John was killed by an angry club goer who was refused entry. The film then delivers a brilliant twist at the end when it become clear that he has been telling the story from with in a prison gymnasium, as he had killed Johns attacker in a fit of rage. This twist was very unexpected and really made the film. The fact that the whole film was from perspective of the bouncer was also something that I had never seen before, and created a feeling of empathy for the bouncer, even though he was in prison for murder.
About a Girl By Brian Percival
This film follows the story of a young girl from manchester. The story is told from her perspective as she talks about her friends, father, mother and little sister as she walks her way along a canal. She particularly talks about how she desires to grow up and be in a girl band with her friends from school. As she is talking, the footage is cutting from her walking along the canal, and what she is describing. As the film is drawing to a close, the girl walks to the edge of the canal, drops in a white carrier bag and walks off. The shot then cuts to under the water, and we see a newborn baby float from the bag. This ending really shocks the viewer, as there no warning or suggestion that this is going to happen from the rest of the film. This final shot really provoked a lot of feeling for the girl from the viewer, and makes you think about how she has all these aspirations, but seems to be unphased by the task she is doing.
Gasman by Lynne Ramsay
This film begins with low angle shots of a little girl getting dressed and putting her shoes on. The film then continues as her father arrives and picks up both her and her brother. The three then begin to walk along an abandoned railway line. They are then confronted by another woman, with a two more younger children of a similar age. A short conversation takes place between the father and the woman, which makes the viewer wonder if he is also the father of these children. They eventually make their to a pub, where the father sits down with his friends and allows the children to do what they wish. At one point, the second little girl goes and sits on the fathers knee. The first girl see this and goes and confronts her father about why another child is sitting on his knee. The girls begin to scuff and it becomes clear that he is also the father of the other girl. The 5 then leave the pub and the other girl is dropped back to her mother. This film really makes the viewer wonder and creates more questions than it answers, but provoking thought and making a viewer is a good thing. The film was interesting for me to watch, and shot very nicely, but I did not particularly enjoy it as I felt unsatisfied with the way it ended.
The Terminal Bar By Stefan Nadelman
This short film is based around a small bar in New York’s Time Square. The story is displayed to the viewer through a vast amount of pictures that were taken by the bar owner at the time. The pictures are animated in an clever way as the bar man recalls the stories behind each of the customers, and the history of the bar itself. I didn't particularly enjoy this film as the stories were very brief, and I found it difficult to understand the narrative. However, I did respect the work and effort that was put into animating the images, and I think that if the stories had been developed more than I may have enjoyed it more.
The Last Man on Earth By Carlo Ortu
This short film follows a man who has been alone on earth for the past five months. He finally reaches the end of his tether and decides to put himself out of misery at an abandoned bar. Before he drinks the lethal poison he has sourced he downs a bottle of vodka. Before he commits the act he speaks his final words into the voice recorder on his smartphone. As he finally sips the lethal solution, his phone begins to ring. I thought that this film was very impressive for a number of reasons. Firstly I think that the film was the perfect length to keep the viewer interested and had enough of a storyline for you to want to know what happens next. The twist at the end is also unexpected and really creates irony for the view, as well as some feeling of sadness for the character.
The Last Man on Earth Factfile
Writer: Carlo Ortu
Director: Carlo Ortu
Producer: Carlo Ortu
DOP: Andrew Fleming
Budget: N/A
Awards: 5
Other Films by Carlo Ortu: ‘Pretty Things’, ‘One Other Thing’, ‘Every Time I Think of You’
Narrative Structure: The film is compiled of only 8 shot, 2 of which are establishing shots. This small amount of shots works in favour for the film, and gives it a professional and smooth feel. All the shots are well held and it makes the viewing easy, not jarring the eye. It also relates to how the man feels, as he has been alone for a long time and is likely to be tired and underfed, hence the slow paced camera movements and shot length.
Music and Sound FX: At the beginning of the film it is very quiet, with only diegetic sounds such as the man's footsteps and the squeaking door of the pub. The high pitch strings come in when the man has drunk the poison, creating a lot of suspense for the viewer. The strings are sharply cut out as the phone rings and from then on the only sound is the phone ringing. This helps to portray the irony of the situation to the viewer.
Mise-En-Scene: empty urban locations, rubbish on the floor, boarded up houses, rainy weather, deserted bar, knocked over bar stalls, half drunk bottle of vodka on the bar, beard, untamed hair, lighting only from pub windows, man walks right down the middle of the street.
Style and Genre: Post apocalyptic thriller, comedy, irony.
Representation: Depression, loneliness, last resort, fear, helplessness.
The Stairwell Analysis
This short film manages to include all the elements of a film in only 40 seconds. The film is long enough to create suspense for the viewer, and short enough to stop the viewer from losing interest.
The representation of both the actor is done very quickly, as this film is so short. One of the main ways that Meadows represents his characters is through their costume, as there no dialogue in the film. The first actor we see, a tall male in a tracksuit and hood up, shading his face, buys into the stereotype that they are aggressive and scary, the fact the man is also moving very quickly towards the woman at the bottom also relates to this. The woman’s costume is more plain, wearing a simple hat scarf and jacket, this suggests that this woman is perhaps just returning from work to home. This creates the feeling of innocence and defenselessness towards her. From the two characters costumes we can see that Shane Meadows has already created a power imbalance that creates anxiety in the viewer as they don’t know what is going to happen when the character meet in the middle of the stairs.
Another element that Meadows uses well is lighting. The lighting agains plays an important role when setting the scene, as both characters are lit differently to add to reinforce their character traits. The man is lit very dimly, meaning that his face is very hard to see even from the low angle shot from the front, this again suggests that he is a dodgy character and is a threat to the woman in some way. The woman is brightly lit, and the viewer can clearly see her face. Again this backs up the inoffensiveness of the woman that has been set by Meadows.
As the music in the scene builds and progressively gets louder and higher pitched, the action begins to get quicker and the shots begin to be fast and faster, with quick edits from one character to the middle. Eventually, when the 2 characters meet in the middle of the stairs all the character building and power imbalance that Meadows has created for the viewer is broken as they simply bangs heads, rather than some kind of confrontation from the man that we had been expecting through out.
This micro short is very inspiring as Meadows creates a lot of suspense and anxiety for the viewer in a very short time, as well as creating a lot of information about the two characters without any dialogue.
