Wednesday 13 August 2014

Short Film Analysis - The Desk


'An anti-bullying short film written and directed by Albert Gonzalez. Produced by Albert Gonzalez Films. A story about communication.'

  • Length – It lasts 7:43. This meets the typical convention of the length of a short film.
  • Characters – There is two main characters, though only one main actor; the other character is not seen in the short. There are many other background characters such as other students and teachers but we don't 'meet' these characters. The audience can easily relate to the characters as only two to listen to.
  • Budget – There is not many locations only the school and the boys bedroom. Keeping the locations limited keeps the budget low: a typical convention of a short film. Company – Albert Gonzalez Films – Films are only made and posted for YouTube. Only one main actor; this keeps the low budget and meets a convention. Created for a media class so this allows us to know the budget would have been low.
  • Twist –  The short takes an everyday situation; school, talking to girls, etc. but puts a twist on the story, which is a convention of a short film. The short leaves the audience wondering what is happening as it is never fully explained. Is the girl Peter talking to a ghost, or is it his imagination?
  • Technical Ideas/Recurring Themes – No special effects are used, just camera and tripod. There is no voiceover and barely any speech; just music and the conversation on the desk between the two characters.
  • Camera Shots  Many close up and extreme close up shots are used throughout the short which, at the beginning, show the sadness in the main character's face compared to his peers. As well as this, extreme close up shots are used when we see the desk. This allows us to clearly see the conversation going on between the characters: the main part of the story. Close ups keep being used to show the characters facial expressions and feelings as the short goes on. There is few long shots used throughout. 

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Starting A2

This is now the start of my work for A2. 
 
So far I have decided to create a short film, working together with Jayme. I thought working with Jayme would be a good idea as it would make the product slightly easier by having someone else to help you. As well as this, I know we can work well together. At the minute we have a few ideas that I will post later when we have finalised what we are doing.
 
My next posts will be researching the codes and conventions of short films which will help us create a successful short film that meets the typical conventions.

The ancillary tasks that will go with our short film will be a poster, promoting and advertising the short to the audience and a magazine article, reviewing the film. After I have posted my research for short films, I will post my analysis of film posters and film reviews/magazine articles. This will help me create the best ancillary tasks to go with my film as I will be learning the conventions and the best techniques/features to use.