Short Film and the Internet.

Within the past 10 years, Short Film have become a growing features on the World Wide Web. With new technology advancements and the introduction of the masse public interaction being able to interact with the internet, it has been increasingly easy to view, share, upload and exhibit short films worldwide.
YouTube have been a fundamental tool in providing amateur directors a place where they can upload and share video composed from all video content and genre up to the internet. In May 2010, it was estimated that YouTube had 14.6 billion videos on their website, which was viewed by 144.1 million people daily. It is stated that each YouTube user watched an average of 101.2 video during May.

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Many sites on the internet cater for specifically short films. Examples of websites are:

Coffee Shorts: http://www.coffeeshorts.co.uk/

Coffee Shorts stream Independent short films across a range of styles. Styles they include are
- Narrative Short films.
- Experimental short films
- Music videos.
- Documentary short films
- Animated Shorts.

Coffee Shorts was set up simultaneously with their production company which they have a team foe experts making film. Coffee Shorts passion for sharing exceptional content led to the sites progression and to the growing reputation they have obtained.


BBC Film Network: http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/

BBC Film network is a online community to provide new film makers with guideline, advice, support and a platform to showcase their work.

The films featured on BBC Film Network are form a wide variety of topics and background, and all tackles issues with uniqueness.

 BBC Film network have expanded and crossed over many platforms within the media world. They have a virtual cinema in popular online virtual game, SecondLife. The SL users can teleport to a location within the game world and watch shorts films.

Penelope Rose Bartlett, the programmer for the short-film section of the Chicago International Film Festival, argues: "The best short films should feel complete and self-contained, not like truncated features. The constraints imposed by the time limit in a short film make it challenging to develop convincing characters, so I'm always impressed by shorts with characters that feel real." 

The Times have recently posted a list of 25 must see shorts films:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article3334789.ece

I feel as the Internet grows and develops, Short films will become a distinctive element within its growth. It is estimate that over 150,000 shorts films online, which is a exceeding number growing daily. It will spark a new generation of short film lovers and give aspiring directors, actors and media fanatics, a new method of networking.

1. http://www.webtvwire.com/comscore-may-2010-stats-youtube-hits-all-time-high-hulu-viewer-numbers-plateau/

Images: www.Google.com

Sony HD V1 Camera Techniques and Features.

SONY HD V1 CAMERA.

In Thursday 9th September video production lesson, we looked at the camera's we will be using for our short films in more depth by exploring it's many function of the camera. The camera we used is the Sony HD V1.


GAIN: Gain is used when their is not enough light within a location, so the camera can internally provide light. The more light that is required will subsitute the quality of the image.

Gain is meausred in DV- Begining from 0 - 18. It is adviced to not go higher than 12 for quality purposes.

SHUTTER SPEED: Shutter speed allows more frames to be taken a second, this effects how the image moves on the LCD screen. Tv uses 24 frames per second and video uses 50-fps. If you want to achieve a slow down footage you would increase the shutter speed and to speed up footage you would decrease it,


WHITE BALANCE: controls the camera coloring it gives to an image in different settings. It is vital to make sure you have the correct white balance.

Three setting which white balance has: 'Tungsten' for indoor footage.  | 'Outdoor' used for filming outdoors. | Manual Customs for both indoors and outdoor filming.

To test if the white balance is correct for the location, you zoom into something white and change the settings.
                
MENU button: Controls the camera and allows user to change settings. It allows the user to check if they are shooting in the correct format.

STATUS CHECK: This button allows the user to check the current stats the camera is on. This give users an easily way to overlook the camera settings.

EXPANDED FOCUS: It double checks whether the camera is in focus. T

FOCUS: This button automatically changes the focus for the user. To focus you zoom into something with fine detail e g: hair and it shall focus.




- The Microphone. 


The microphone is located at the top of the camera and is plugged in through a jack at the top side of the camera. 


If you are using one mic all switches on the top side of the camera should be up.

If there's more than one mic, then the first switch in-between stereo and mono should be down.

EXPOSURE/ IRIS: The iris defines how mcuh light is let in the camera. When gain is set, exposure cannot be altered.

PUSH AUTO FOCUS: asks the camera to focus quickly. This button is useful to press if the useful if your not completely sure of there judgement or you are filming a live show such as a concert.

AUTO LOCK- all the settings are on auto- unless specified.


MANUAL- all settings are manuel.


HOLD- the camera will remain fully automatic.

Avant Garde

Avant Garde is a film making style which involves experiemental techniques and ideas. It can also include new forms, ideas and ways of expression. The word Avant Garde oringated from the french word "ahead of the crowd" and in contempary english "cutting edge".

Avant Garde films are defined by visual experimentation, challenged convention of narrative and its abstract structure. The movement was birthed from film makers difiance to mainstream cinema through the 1900's.

In 1920's avant garde was originated in Europe through visual artists Dadists and Surrelists expanding their movement to film. Entr'acte (1924) directed by Rene Clair is considered to be the first short film created. It involved various technqiues and debuted camera angles and terms. The film involves people running in slow motion, seeing image from worm eye view and screen titles.

Entr'acte showcases daring styles and presents Clair innovative approach to film. The film was premiered between acts at the Theatre des Champs- Elysees in Paris. The music was composed by Erik Satie- a renowned pianist through 1920's.
The short saw some fundamental elements which was ground breaking for the 20th century technology.

Meshes of the Afternoon, directed by Maya Deren, 1942 is considered to have revolutionized short film and Avant Garde.
The 17 minutes short was the birth of American experimental film making and Maya Deren is considered to be the "Mother of Avant Garde".

The short was a collaboration between Maya and her husband, Alexander Hammid who provided the soundtrack for the film.

The film is abstract, lyrical and dream-like combining reality with innovative camera angle and editing techniques. I feel the film tackles challenging issues such as: suicide, death and grieving in an artistic and intensifying way.

Deren's influence in the 1920's amongst the short film industry was extremely fundamental and controversial. Deren stated "the cost to make one of my short films, is the same Hollywood spend on a tube of lipstick". Her fearless and innovative approach to film was admired by many and inspired many.

Meshes of the Afternoon





"Aside from being Maya Deren's most successful film, I also find Meshes to be the most intriguing for a number of reasons. The ability to tap into the human mind and realms of the unconscious through film art is amazing to me. Meshesis not just a feminist film trying to show a woman's place in a male-dominated society, but is also a  dramatic and intensifying experience for the viewer. Perhaps one of the reasons why this film is so compelling is because it is about her. The legendary Maya Deren came up with her ideas from personal experience, from feelings, emotions, and anxieties of her own. Just as we have many layers of consciousness, some that we are unaware of, Deren 'was always trying to bring out the multiple layers of meaning of everything that went into her films'  


1. Nicole Brady, Brakhage, p.11). 

Short Film Envy Presentation - Textual Analysis.

In today lesson, Wednesday 15th September, I had to analyse a short film which I had choose to the class.

The film I choose was Envy directed by Sam Hendi  found on The BBC Film Network.



Envy is an urban tale about friendship, love, honesty and trust.

Textual Analysis. 


INTRO TITLES: the blurred car lights lets the audience know it will be set in a suburbanised environment possible involving cars.

The blurred lights symbolises hidden identity and strengths the audience mystery in in what the short film will exactly involve.

The 'ENVY' title is strong and a outstand feature on screen. It is visual bigger than the blurred lights to draw the audience attention to the title. The letter 'E' in the title is distorted like it has been cut with a knife. There is suddenly digectic soun which remodels it back into place.

The digectic music adds mood and effect letting the audience know the genre.

2.  The lights fade onto a caucasian girl's face. The camera is a CU of her face in profile position. The camera is visually compositioned on her eyes, it bring mystery to the audience as we do not see her surrounding location or where she is going.

3. The camera changes to a MCU. The girl is breaking the 4th wall as she is talking to the camera address the audience. The light is dim and she is in a car within a dark, empty car park. We learn information about the main protagonist Rebecca, as she is addressing her audience.

As Rebecca is talking, there are scene of the characters in question for example: her boyfriend. The mise en scene is highly saturated to show its a flashback sequence.

The camera does a slow zoom in to the main protagonist face then does a sudden zoom and pause in to create dramatic tension.

The silhouette in the door, adds mystery to the story strengthening its darkening atmosphere. It arises questions in the viewers mind's regarding who's house is it and where is she going. The silhouette creates  tension.

A new character is introduced to the audience, she is sitting in a car and in the same location as Rebecca. The camera does a slow pan across her face. The camera is handheld. There are jump cuts whilst the character is speaking to the saturated life.

There is then a extreme close up of the new character's lips. This creates mystery as we cannot see the characters lips. The digectic music reaches a crescendo and as the camera pace increases.

A tracking shot of a red car which supposedly Rebecca is driving is shown on screen. Red within the movie reflects passion, danger and blood.

In the next shot, the car window is down and Rebecca face is slightly illuminates by the car light. The mise en scene is dark and gritty adding to the tension of film.
There is a sharp forceful zoom- her facial expression tell her there is a climax coming up.

There is focus pull when Rebecca confronts Sohpie and her boyfriend, this is a shot to show they has been a complex to the scene.

When Rebecca slaps Sohpie, there is a slow motion effect. ECU to show emotions and expressions of characters.

The camera zooms to reflect emotions- handheld camera.

It then cuts to a ECU of Rebbeca in the car location, slowly pans in.


I found this short film interesting and engaging. It explains a story through voiceover and documentary style narrations. I feel the short film idea was simplistic and was shot in a captivate and innovative way using various shots and camera angles to communication to the audience. I like the use of colours within the film to represent various different emotions.

Inspirations and Idea Generation.

In todays lesson, we looked at ways to get Inspiration and to generate ideas for our short film. We focused on how film synopsis and idea can be generated from analysis and investigating a piece of art e.g: a picture, song lyrics, objects, etc.

We looked at PostSecrets, These are a series of real- life postcard which the public send in their deepest secrets, anonymously on a homemade postcard to share to the world. The concept was founded by Frank Warren, and between 2005- 2007 he had received over 2,500 original pieces.

I was given a series of 4 postcards and I had to selected 2 postcards and develop a film synopsis from the post card imagery and words. The idea of the task was to see how we can create a simple short film idea from just one source.


My first choice was: 

Film Synopsis

Mary- jane, 16 is overweight for her age. Her mother, Christine is small, frail and boarder-lining anorexic. Mary Jane has dreams of going to fashion school and has a passion to make clothes for plus size woman, however knows the industry is infatuated with her mother's 'healthy' slim-line figure. Mary Jane is trapped in world of self-hate and a society of social oppression. She often makes clothes for her mum, and even after her death to anorexia -  Mary always hopes her mother will finally discover she always wrote her messages in the seams.

My second choice was: 

Film Synopsis


Danny, 42 has been diagnosed with cancer. He is sitting in the hospital waiting for his family to visit. They visit everyday at 6pm, its 5:59 at no sign of them. He them begins to wonder- where could they be. Its Christmas day, they would want to send it with their dad- in hospital, right? It's been years since he was able to show love to his wife- she still loves him- right?






Bibliography.

1. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZDcU4ls0A0_Lv09lGaT_kSaadxXMh815aoadQeDh99gxWphIG2lAGE1Vz3MvuPfC9kajLqWdtZZ2Qe6A6qvzvMmKYwTVu0Au_T-2ZuTc_22xJ8_F0qcmChskeQcQzXGQQ_4WCOwWgWcl/s1600/onback.andidowonderwhethershes+foundanyofthem.jpg

Rubber Johnny (Original, Short Version)

Rubber Johnny is a 6 minute experimental short film, directed by Chris Cunningham. The short was initially intended for the purpose of TV promo for the band, The Ahpex Brother new album, however Cunningham decided to expanded the piece to a feature length short. The short contains explicit content and shock imagery, which coincides with the underlying narrative of the story. Rubber Johnny, within the short is a shape shifting 'deformed' young person who is trapped in a basement.
The film uses multi- effects and experiments with fluorescent light and night vision, it makes the short very creative and innovative. I found Rubber Johnny to be an interesting and engaging short film. I feel its an experimental short which displays codes and conventions of many different media formats within one and showcases future trends.

Luis Brunel- Director Analysis.

Luis Brunel, was a Spanish director who was a founding pioneer in the surrealist sector of the Avant Garde movement. His filming style was iconic to surrelist imagery and is considered one of the greatest directors to work in cinema'. (1)

Brunel first and most notable short film is Un Chien Andalou (1928). The film was a collobration of Brunel and Dali (a surrestlist artisit). The project was described as "an encounter between two dreams"(2).
The film explores themes of dreams, and has no clear structure or plot. Brunel stated 'the only rule for the writing of the script was that "no idea or image that might lend itself to a rational explanation of any kind would be accepted."(3) This was the essence of surrealist films summed up.

Un Chien Andalou, no narrative plot formation was an example of Brunel allowing the audience to escape from the confines of film. Throughout the film, it forces the audience to think about what they are watching.

The film features shocking imagery, especially within the opening scenes of which Brunuel is shown holding open a woman eye on a balcony, about to slice it open with a razor. The scene is cut between images of a cloud passing a full moon as if going to bisect it. I feel the idea of the eye slicing scene was to shock the audience through allowing them to question what film is and I feel Brunel wanted to challenge the notions of what it is to view a film.

There is a scene of ants crawling out of a man's hand. In the film there is constant correlation to humans and nature. I feel humans are very much shown connected to insects through they're mannerism or actions. There is a bird's eye view shot of people, which is reminiscent of ant. They scurry away, leaving only one woman, who eventually get run over by a car, which may represent a predator.

The film is based on the concept of suppressed human emotions, which throughout the film is exagerated to answer the question of 'what it is to be human?'.

Overall I feel the film provided a foundation for the development of surrealist cinema. It is a fundemental  exmaples of showing what it is to be experimental with film.

Simone Mareuil's eye being held open by Luis Buñuel in the opening scene.(4)

L'age d'Or (1930),  followed Un Chien Andalou and was Salvador Dali and Luis Brunel second collobration. The film explores religion and showcases controversial imagery and symbolisms. A noteable scene within the film and the main plot is a man and woman passionately in love in a garden. The pair are often interupted by digectic noise then the scene is cut to an orchestra playing.

The film is a rebellious stance to the oppression of 1930's society. The young girl fallacting a religious statue toe caused a roit and was banned after the Board of Censors reviewed the film.


Conclusion.

Lusi Brunuel approach to film was unorthodox, he tackled various issues with ideolisms of what film is. He openly critical of middle class morals, often questioning the Roman Catholic Church. This led to many disputes with collegue Dali, who was highly religious.

Examples of films were: Un Chien Andalou; which include priests and tablets of The Ten Commandments.
                                    

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Bu%C3%B1uel
Luis Buñuel stands with Eisenstein, Chaplin, Renoir, Dovzhenko, Mizoguchi and Fellini as 'one of the greatest directors ever to work in cinema'. -- Joan Mellen

2. Luis Buñuel in his autobiography, My Last Breath, Jonathan Cape, London, 1983, p.103

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_chien_andalou.

4. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ee/Andalou.jpg