Roles and Responsibilities

Short Film Analysis 3:

'Adrian' is another short film that I found particularly entertaining which was also created by the same people who made 'Memories' and 'The Return'. 'Adrian' is about two males, one being the main character and the other being Adrian. Adrian is a fragment of the main characters imagination and annoys him continuously. The main character eventually tries to get rid of him by shooting him but as he is in his imagination, he is always there.

I feel mise-en-scene and cinematography have the least effect on the film. The mise-en-scene does portray his personality with him playing games, on his phone, eating and drinking, which can be a stereotype of male teenagers with a very simple lifestyle. Having simple mise-en-scene is good in this short because it emphasises on his simple personality, which is why he is imagining a friend.

The feature I found most prominent in this one was the sound because there was dialogue, non-diegetic, which helped create the story along with diegetic dialogue and music. The music was quite comic to show Adrian's annoyance whereas the non diegetic dialogue was to show what he was thinking, which is ironic because this film is about Adrian who is just his imagination. The diegetic dialogue comes from Adrian who is nagging the main character to show who is the irritant between them.

The second most effective and important code must be the edit. Not for the cuts between shots, although they were used accordingly, but for the short time near the end when the shot went from black and white to colour and then back to black and white. The monochrome was used to imply the torment he is in caused by Adrian but to also show his very basic, monotone, personality he has - this could be why he has imagined this friend. The moment in which the screen faded to colour was when the main character shot Adrian to get rid of him to show his sense of relief and normality. It fades back to black and white when it becomes apparent that Adrian is only in his mind and so is always there and is back to annoying him again.

Short Film Analysis 2:

'Memories' is a dramatic short film about two friends who got into a situation where one was unfortunately shot and killed. That is the basic storyline however the film goes through the memories that one of the friends had which builds it up to the point where it happened. It is untold who got shot at first until the very end building suspense and adding a dramatic effect.

The mise-ene-scene was very dark in the room with only the male's face light coming from his laptop with text of 'Dear Taron', implying this is his friend which he is writing to. It is silent until he starts to speak, which we suspect is what he is typing in the letter as it cuts to his hands typing on the keyboard and it is being directed to his friend. This is the main setting in the film as everything cuts back to that room with that friend sitting there. It is evident which are the memories throughout the film as it is cut around the boy in the room. The memories have both friends in them and are in various different places which don't lead on from one another smoothly showing that they are different memories, but they are also very colourful which is in contrast to the black dark room.

The cinematography also helps identify the memories through using hand held camera to get an unsteady shot. This has connotations of youthfulness and looks like they could have taken took the film, but we know they didnt however it does give that effect. It can also be so that it looks like we are looking back at them memories with him and his memories aren't steady and perfect but jolty with lots of movement.

The sound is very calm and slow at the start when the male is is looking at the screen but stops for his monologue to start and another piano mood influencing music to overlay. It doesn't have negative connotations as the dialogue carries the mood more effectively. At the end the music stops before the dialogue has so it can enhance the dramatic effect that his words are carrying.

Short Film Analysis 1:

The Return is a short film carrying a message about driving and using a mobile hone. The main character is the person who is using the mobile while driving and crashes into a mother while her child watches. It goes on to the main character saying sorry and asking for forgiveness but the child refuses. This however is during a flashback which you can see by the editing of the film that they have blurred the edges to have it a flashback/dream like effect and later in the film the male goes back to the house to once again say sorry, for the boy this time to forgive him.

I find the edit the most important code during this film as this is what carries the story along. As I said before, flashbacks are shown by the blurred edges, but also the flashbacks are in almost full colour whereas the present time is depicted in black and white. You would tend to find back and white as a convention for a flashback but in this case it is used in reverse to hold connotations of grief and despair as the male is in turmoil over what he has done, when before the colour is presented to show that he was happy then before the accident.

The sound also adds great affect to the storyline. It starts with an airy sound with piano which can create a suspicious unsettling sound, coinciding with the male character walking on the road. At this point there is no knowledge of what he has done but we automatically know that there is something wrong. There is dialogue and diegetic sound throughout but mainly in the flashbacks to give a bit more narrative depth. The mood music is continuous throughout the short continuing the unsettling feeling.

Mise-en-scene and cinematography was for me the least effective codes. I do believe however that the cinematography was good for capturing specific close ups to add effect such as using close ups to show emotion on the characters faces. The mise-en-scene is simple by using the same areas: car, road and house. It is limited to what you see in the car but the road is very long and wide so it can imply how he is isolated when walking along and very along which adds to the turmoil he is feeling.

Short Films

Rebecca and I have started watching some short films to give us ideas and inspiration for our own short film. We've looked at various different types so we have an idea on genres and how to create it with different shots to make it a good short film.

Ideas

Here are some ideas that I came up with of what I could do, I used WiseMapping to create the mind map: 

The Camera Experience

Here is what we created from the short time using the cameras:

Camera experience

During a media lesson we had the chance to get the cameras to either start the preliminary task or get used to and understand how the cameras work. I have had experience on cameras but not on the schools. Fortunately my friend Rebecca who I am working with has used the schools cameras before so she knew the basics but it wasn't difficult to get the hang of. Rebecca and I messed around with the camera and got different shots together and created somewhat of a vlog through iMovie just so we could have an understanding of the camera and the ways in which we cut the shots.