Tuesday, 5 October 2010

Films...


Future shorts short film festival

‘The world’s largest short film festival’
The showcase monthly screenings of short films across the globe in around 90 different cities across 19 countries including a wide range from  USA,France and even Iran just to name a few.
They have an online forum which generates more than 1 million followers across different medias where you can share and discuss films posted by futureshorts.
They also organise gatherings solely on highlighting cinema.
Their site also provides synopsis’ of films in which they showcase bringing variety from a lot of foreign directors



BBC film network

Focuses on highlighting a variety of British films from a range of genres, some films on my blog have been shared from this site including ‘She farted and created the world’ and ‘Fade to black’

This site gives you the opportunity to see thefilming talent old and new in Britain and it helps express the views of different people living in Britain as well. 
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Shhh it's a secret,but i'll tell you anyways...


Post Secrets

The task was to read a secret and build a short film from it, you could have branched off in any direction it was really how to read the postcard.

My first postcard read:          
                                                                                       
“I’d gladly trade this car to have a BIG PENIS”

This is the story ideas i made from it:

  • Main character: Let’s call him Johnny
  • ·       Wife left him because he had a small willy, with his best friend who he now knows has a bigger willy from catching his wife and best friend during a very intimate moment. Johnny makes the comparison between himself and his friend and wants to do something about it
  • ·       Johnny goes on a mission to find ways to make his lower regions bigger
  • ·       A technique he uses makes his willy have erection problems and decides he isn’t man enough anymore and decides to have a sex change
  • ·       I wanted this to be film like a witness/confessional with a talking silhouette, and a ‘reconstruction’ telling his story

However this idea was shut down, with all fairness though it wasn’t the most thought out idea and it just doesn’t seem logical for a short film. As it had too much narrative and not enough straight to the point ideas.  Also I wanted to call it ‘Don’t look at me *covers penis*’, this wouldn’t have been the best film title ever.

My second postcard read:

“What hurts the more than losing you...is knowing you’re not fighting to keep me”

My uber solid idea:

  • ·       brain damaged patient (she is paralysed and unable to talk)
  • ·       husband doesn’t want to keep her on life support
  • ·       the narrator is her thoughts ‘talking’ to the audience, she is more concerned that her husband doesn’t love her/doesn’t want her around than the actual thought of dying
  • ·       husband decides to turn off life support

This one was more straight to the point, would have been more simple to film and had clearer ideas about the narrative and what I wanted to actually do with it. It also relates directly to the postcard, as if it could have been written by the woman in my story.
 In the lesson we also made our own post secrets which we made a small synopsis for, this was slightly harder as we had to things of our own secrets and turn them into something, but this task helped to generate ideas for films in different ways.
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Sunday, 3 October 2010

Sorry in advance

This is going to be the worse form of copying and pasting EVER! but infomation is infomation, at least *hangs head in shame and clicks CTRL + V*)

Short Films Awards Festivals List (according to 'The academy')

QUALIFYING FESTIVALS AND AWARDS MAY CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE

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VIMEO SHARING DOESN'T LIKE ME...

once again i'm unsuccessful in embeded this on the blog... i hope a link will suffice

http://vimeo.com/15249713 < Confessions of an ill woman (moi,kai,carla)

Making this wasn't too hard during the development stages, if we planned a bit more then maybe it may have ran smoother. I felt the task requests were met, but i think we all know we could have pushed it a bit further, with more camera angles,effects perhaps?
however i do feel that the soundtrack makes it feel very intense, which somehow makes the video seem more funny than it should be.
problems were the varied background noise during filming, which in editing could be recognised when the background noise wasn't smooth and consistant. also we needed to remember that body movements needed to be the same to add to the target of continuity.
overall we did the job, without pushing ourselves but we ended up with something that i felt was good enough to post on my facebook

thought this would be a more appropriate screen shot instead of the shot of this video on my facebook, bit more professional.
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It started with a light switch...


The Stairwell By Shane Meadows
‘The Stairwell’ is shown to audiences through disoriented shots and angles in the space of 40 seconds. The dark,gritty, environment is typical to Shane meadows’ style of filming and contributes to the behaviour of characters.
It is clear that a journey is being shown, the title explains that really. As a mobile phone camera is used it instantly gives off the realistic vibe of the environment. The ‘steadycam’ like movement emphasises the movement of the characters as if you’re moving with them.

As it’s such a short film we as the audience have quite low expectations, as we know there won’t be any major development or understanding of the characters or narrative. However the audience are introduced to the first character from behind, this already creates a sense of mystery about the character, and we are able to start building ideas about who this character is. Also disorientated angles could reflect the feelings of the character. The shot of the character’s face also has dark lighting; shadows, which adds to the mystery, maybe even creating a bad feeling towards him because your able to find out who he really is. It’s as if he’s trying to hide something, like he intentionally doesn’t want to be seen by anybody.

The introduction of the second character shows her in a brighter light in comparison, this could indicate her innocence within the film. This could mean that because of the lighting difference that the female is good and the male is bad.

However the female’s facial expression slightly contradicts this, as she looks more intense as if she is determined to be somewhere. This is in comparison to the male character’s softer expression and indifference in his face, as if he doesn’t know where he’s going or he’s just walking for the fun of it.
By this point the film catches up with the audience trying to make assumptions about the characters, and they meet on the stairs in a collision. It ends here with no more development, just what the narrative and background info the audience has made up for themselves.

Youtube - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5wMvyVJYlg)
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Kanye West - Heard 'Em Say ft. Adam Levine

This music video was directed by Michel Gondry.

Style is clear, through the drawing-like animation and the way the characters' expressions are exaggerated and made to stand out against the normality of the scenery in which they are in.

Also the mix of animation and actual footage keeps it visually interesting enough to be a music video, plus i think that Kanye's ego wouldn't let him not be in the video, thus the actual shots of Kanye

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Meshes of the Afternoon numero dos

Second part of Meshes of the afternoon by Maya Deren

Avant Garde

“Ahead of the crowd”, “cutting edge”, “experimental”

One of the main directors associated with avant garde is Maya Deren, coined sometimes as the mother of Avant Garde. She wanted to break conventions of mainstream and create pieces which people wouldn’t be able to put in any category, and as she was at her peak in the 1940s-50s this would have been very unusual.

“Anti mainstream stance within her films promotes the idea of artistic license
and creative freedom”
‘Meshes of the afternoon’ (1943)

Small notes on the film:
· Flower- could indicate something precious, like life
· Effects on film well before it’s time (slow motion style running, cuts, when she falls out of window)
· Tunnel vision, music becomes darker
· Grim reaper (mirror face), could represent that she is the one killing herself, it’s her reflection in the face of the grim reaper- like character
· Theme of death,dreaming (objects not in logical places)
· Something’s happened during the day, and it’s being pieced together in a non-logical way in her dreams
· Suicide, comptemplating whether she wants to actually do it (knife,table,key)
· Sacrificial style music heard during

Youtube- (http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=wiNyxt71RZs&feature=related)
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Meshes of the Afternoon numero uno


first part of the short film by Maya Deren

youtube - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPi9i3gfSAM)
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Would you really act like this? *thinks*

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004pwqp < 'Fade To Black' Film, embedding was unsuccessful, my lack of patience means it will stay unsuccessful...so please do click for your own entertainment.



Fade to black (2004)
Director: Gary Martin
Starring: Sheridan Smith
Synopsis: This film tells the story of a woman who seems to be obsessed and in denial of the state of her relationship with a seemingly new ex boyfriend who was ‘stolen’ away from her by a friend. She feels the only way to get him back is by having comestic surgery.
It filmed as if it’s the main characters video diary/blog of the going on’s in her life and more specifically events which relate to her ex boyfriend and his relationship.  She fluctuates from the emotional extremes of being angry to upset throughout the whole film. The denial she shows gathers sympathy from audiences as you see her breaking down during the whole film. You understand that she is clearly distraught about the whole situation and that she is finding it hard to cut ties with her feelings for this man.
The personal filming makes it feel like the audience have undercovered her secrets; voyeuristic maybe?
You sometimes feel like you shouldn’t be seeing or hearing some of the things she says because they sound so personal. the way the camera is dropped at the end and that’s all we see, we as the audience feel helpless like maybe we could have done something to help her. Or another idea is that these videos have been uncovered after her death which we assumed happened.
Also some audiences may feel like they can relate to some things she's feeling, developing empathy and understanding with her extreme attitude to the situation.









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Michel Gondry

This French film, commercial and music video director and Academy-Award winning screenwriter. His career started when music artist Björk spotted the style of his videos from a French music video he did with Oui Oui and commissioned him to produce music videos for her, 7 in all.
His work is consistent in taking inspiration from childhood memories usually featuring objects such as train sets, teddy bears, model aeroplanes and colourful creatures. Often especially in relation to music videos Gondry uses the musicians as part of the surreal world that he creates and not as merely pop icons. “Fell in love with a girl” by the White Stripes is a perfect example of this as the entire video is an animation using only lego blocks.  His work is very distinctive in nature calling on fun, imagination which displays a playfulness. Although his style of work has caused him to be seen as somewhat an idiosyncratic auteur whose work seems to feature internationally pop stars than displaying him as a music video director creating short artful materials; this same style is also inviting and accessible.
Gondry utilises a mixture of advanced technologies like CGI with simpler devices which helps avoid the image being overly plastic creating a more crude effect. 


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Compare the market.com

my little table of comparison...nothing special, just a tabl made in word.
 
 
Short Films
Mainstream
·         Lower budget
·         Healthy,higher budget
·         Doesnt have to have a clear ending
·         Usually has a clear ending
·         Basic equipment
·         Higher quality equipment
·         Short,quick production time
·         Longer production time
·         Individual production
·         Large crew (producers,directors,etc)
·         Amateur actors (volunteer)
·         Professional actors (paid)
·         No special effects
·         Special effects
·         More realistic (kitchen-sink realism)
·         Potential to be less realistic,glamorised
·         Online,film festivals
·         Cinemas
·         Lack of distribution
·         Contracts with large distribution companies
·         Reasons (personal) for filming
·         Business like (contracts with scripit writers)
·         Narrative,clear,concise
·         Longer plot lines,slower paced
·         Unconventional storytelling
·         Conventional storytelling

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History of Short Film *yawns*

La Sortie de l'Usine ^

History of short film:
· Short film has revolutionised the film industry with each new advancement in film there has been a short film that sparked it off
· 1895: first short film publicly exhibited ‘La Sortie de l’usine’
- Short due to technically restrictions
· It wasn’t until 1910 when films got longer that the term “short subjects” was coined
· Historical content
-workers in the workhouse, evidence of the past
· “short subjects” became quite popular amongst audiences because people could go to the cinema and see 3-4 films rather just 1. This was important at the time as there were few forms of entertainment for the masses
· 1930s Hollywood Block-booking
- Big Hollywood studio forces a small production company to sell their shorts and which they would turn into feature films
· Supreme court of USA declared block booking illegal but the damage to short film had been done
· The classical narrative- 90 minute or more feature films
· More profitable for film exhibitors – 2hour turnover of film
· Invention of TV- Mass medium
- Short films were aired until 1960s
· 1980s short film reinvented however, they were much darker and grittier, No longer about commercial success but about content and conveying a message

This will lead on to Avant Garde...

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Tube Tales - Steal Away (2 of 2) (my own stealing done courtesy of YouTube)



Steal Away (a part of Tube Tales, 1999)

Director: Charles McDougall
Writer: Nick Perry
Originator: TJ Austin
Starring: Hans Matheson and Carmen Ejogo
Synopsis: Two people steal a briefcase on impulse, just for the thrills. We see how the effects of the way they live their life catch up with them, and how simple good deeds can change the biggest things in life.

This film confuses the audience throughout; we make assumptions and have them suddenly obstructed by a new assumption of what’s going to happen. The face pace helps to keep the audience guessing, the only time we as the audience begin to realise what’s actually going on, is at the end when we reflect on everything’s that happened.

The symbolism within the film helps to tie up all the loose ends with the story and helps the audience understand the meaning behind the film. Religion being on subject being symbolised throughout such as the centre focus of the ‘cross’ at the beginning, preacher on the train, re-enactments or similarities to acts of Jesus in the bible (washing of feet) and the ‘Seven deadly sins’.

Lighting plays a part in helping the audience make assumptions, for example when the light flicker when the boy touches Michael (main character) on the train we assume something spiritual has happened due to previous assumptions involving religious subjects. It some aspects the bright lights shown at the beginning after they take the briefcase could symbolise ‘light at the end of tunnel’, indicating that they could get away with the crime they just committed. Throughout I think lighting gives the sense of good and evil, when Michael seems to have done a good deed the light becomes brighter. This is in comparison to the darker lighting, red tinge when both the man and woman are engaging in a bit of high strung intimacy on the platform, which some would consider a sin .

The director seemed like all he wanted to do was push some boundaries, confused the audience and keep them guessing, just so the twist ending would seemingly come out of the blue.

my notes for this film from the lesson:
SM - Spongeman (main male character)
WT - Woman Thief (main female character)

Just a little note because you wouldn't understand my notes really if I didn't point those abbrivations out






Youtube - (http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=96yGL5xITls&feature=related)
Wikipedia - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Tales#Steal_Away)
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Tube Tales - Steal Away (1 of 2)

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Shane Meadows

Shane Meadows born in the UK on 26th December 1972 is regarded as a self-taught British film maker. 1994 saw his first steps into the film making industry and escalated shortly after as he began making a selection of short videos. Shane’s growing catalogue of films and his frustration of not being able to screen them at any festivals led to his creation of “Six of the best”, a screening opportunity for short film makers to display their films. After growing in popularity this developed into an international video festival called “Flip Side”.
Shane’s popularity increased over the years with more examples of heartfelt films that continued to attract a collection of fans. His popularity however was not being reflected in the Box- Office among most cinema goers; many not being able to appreciate his style i.e. creating a black and white feature in his film Twenty-four Seven; his lack of film prints available and his budget. This however was halted by the release of his success film  “This Is England” a story set in 1983 which documents the life changing events that can take place during the school summer holidays. “This is England” grossed over £ 1 Million in the box office showing in over 150 cinemas, competing with blockbusters such as Spiderman 3 this Independent film won Best British Independent Film at the BIFA awards and a BAFTA film award in 2008.
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For some reason 'Gold' just didn't seem cool enough so they called it...

SILVER FILMS!

“Silver can be formed into a shape the mind can conceive”

Janey de Nordwall
Silver films was established in 1996 by Janey de Nordwall. She wanted to take the step from events to films, a different step indeed, but a step which would lead on to her being a part of a team who won a 2001 BAFTA award for the 'Best short film' and others.
Silver films began in Manchester with business from advertising for gaming companies, product launches and live events. This helped to build a reputation for the company but also for generating enough money to have the resources to concentrate solely on researching film making and development. Silver films has since then made a few accreditated films which have won or been nominated for awards in numerous film festivals. Other work includes adverts for famous brands such as Toyota, Lexus and Umbro.
Also in 2006 the company was joined by advert director Richard Oliver and now have bases in both Manchester and London. Janey de Nordwall has continued to work in the film industry with the role as producer on a numerous amount of films including the most recent 'Gardens with red roses'.
They describe how they work with just one word ‘Diligently’. The fact that they use a word that solely means persevering efforts tells a lot for the values they have for films. They put a lot of hard work into their projects and our confident in what they do. The confidence is shown through the use of one strong word to describe how they work, shows the focus they have also.

The trailer for Gardens with red roses.


This film is set in 1997 at the start of the New Labour government, with the effects of the Conservative era still in the midst of society. This story sees the struggle of a couple looking to make their own mark in the world but are being held back by misfortunes in their lives.


Janey de Nordwall interview - (http://www.netribution.co.uk/features/interviews/2001/janey_de_nordwall/1.html )

Youtube -( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EibA3rKqaI )

Silver Films- ( http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/#Nav_intro)
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Saturday, 2 October 2010

I Love Death... Thats the title but personally I don't love death, we just have a mutual agreement



This is just a life cycle in animation form, from an bitter old man getting a woman pregnant who goes on to have a slacker son, who joins in on the menial officeworker bandwagon and gets cheated on by his wife to then become a bitter old man, in simple terms.
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I just wanted to drop it in really.. 'The Big Push'



The Big Push is a simple short film showing an old lady's struggle pushing a pram up a hill.
This could relate to a lot of people literally and in other ways too. Things like 'Life is an uphill battle' ,' They'll be obstacles you'll have to overcome' , and other cliche quotes like that.
Also the fact the old lady makes it over the bump, and further up the hill to only fall back down to the bottom is hilarious. Firstly other people's misfortunes can be funny in some situation, and funny in the sense that a lot of people have gone through situations where you've overcome something to only fall back down; which now after reflecting are sometimes funny.
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The short film entitled..(freeze frame)..Bouncer



Bouncer (2002)
Director: Michael Baig Clifford
Starring: Ray Winstone
Synopsis: Bouncer deals with club doorman’s worst nightmare ‘ the one that comes back’
The film is simply the worse nightmare of a nightclub bouncer- the revengeful club-goer who gets kicked out of the club. As the synopsis says ‘bouncer deals with the club doorman’s worst nightmare ‘the one that comes back’.
Voiceovers from the main character played by Ray Winstone create the background story for the audience. He introduces the other characters, previous nightclub stories as a way to help the audience understand from his point of view, which is a point of view we don’t usually come across.
The freeze frames used throughout help to make the film more visually interesting, it also helps the voiceovers catch up with the visuals and tell the story at the same pace.



We go back and forth between the present of the main character talking in a gym, to flashbacks of the story unravelling.
The lighting is dark and realistic making it feel like we as the audience are being told a true story.
The soundtrack throughout conveys the emotion, feelings, etc of the characters
The twist brings the whole story back to reality, as if to bring the audience back to the consequences of our actions and the character’s actions. It also challenges what the audience initially thinks.


Digishorts.com - (http://www.digishorts.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=5 , Last accessed 29th September)

Youtube.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WzKnNQEeI8&feature=related)
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'I've gotten dead good at hiding things...'



Title comes up like how someone would write a text message. We as the audience can hear the buttons being pushed and monophonic tones being heard. This could be directed at young people, more specifically females, it also has a modern feel, as it uses the phone to convey the title.

We are introduced to the main character by her silhouette and we hear her singing ‘Britney Spears- stronger’ this creates a mystery as to who she is and the song choice could be an indication to the narrative or the character’s personality. After watching the film we as the audience learn that by singing this it’s an escape for her; the escape from the gritty reality of her life and environment and into the dream world of her one day being famous.  This is when we also see her softer side; the hard shell we usually see is replaced with vulnerability.  

The audience are abruptly introduced to the main character ‘girl’ in a documentary style, the camera tracks her as she talks about her family life and relationships, her dreams of being something better than the people around her and about the picture of herself she paints to other people. She repeatedly tries to convince the audience she is old enough to handle things, in probably attempts to try and convince herself she’s old enough. The fast pace in which she talks makes her seem on edge and this is reflected onto the audience who now feel on edge with her. The pace in which she talks seems to be her way of hiding true feelings, because when you talk at a fast pace listeners aren’t able to grasp feelings, or understand quick enough so as a listener your trying to keep up with everything she says and not necessarily listening to what she actually trying to tell you. This idea of her hiding things is clarified before she throws the bag into the canal, when she says ‘I’ve gotten dead good at hiding things from her since then’. 

Throughout the film it goes back and forth between ‘girl’ talking to the camera and cutaways of her reality. A lot of times when she talks directly to the camera she gives the perception that she has a wonderful relationship with her dad and she seems to make excuses for the lack of his involvement and stability within her life. When it shows the clips we see the reality of her and her father’s relationship and how he isn’t as great as the girl makes him out to be. The standout example is when she tells the camera that after her dad plays football he takes her for a packet of crisps and a coke, so we as the audience assume that they are spending time quality time together, so when the film cut to the clip of her alone outside the pub, and male shouting in the background we realise the reality of the girl being left out in the cold and her dad enjoying himself with his friends totally forgetting about her. 


Throughout the film the lighting is a dull, grey colour this helps reflect the working class environment, the general struggle and hardship and possibly the girl’s underlying feelings underneath her perceived bubbly personality. The difference in light is at the end of the film when she throws the bag in the canal, at this point the sunlight peers through the dull clouds, as if the girl’s world has now become a bit brighter, like she has found an escape in reality.

In addition the plastic bag is a symbolism of her. The plastic bag is thrown into the canal in the hopes that better will come from it, but as it travels down the canal it gets trapped in fencing. Which relates to her in the sense that she will become a product of her environment and become trapped in her surroundings with the very unlikely chance of her becoming famous.


These notes of mine from the lesson: 





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Friday, 1 October 2010

Stuntmen have feelings too...



Crash, Bang, wallow?
Year of Production: 2010
Running Time: 4 mins 10 secs
Director: Jon Dunleavy

Funded by Screen East, UK Film Council & 4Mations
This short animation tells the story of a stuntman called Larry who’s hay day in 80s films was now shadowed in the 90s from the new use of CGI technology and he was no longer able to find proper work. He wasn’t even able to keep simple menial task jobs as he made all his actions stunt related, such as running into stacked tin cans in the supermarket. He then decides to commit suicide by jumping off a building, but his attempt turns into a stunt job and as he falls to the ground and performs a tuck and roll automatically. He will always be a stuntman!
The main character wallows in his on self pity as you see him sitting in a dark, dirty trailer watching his old movies he’s been in and retells the story to the audience as if was the one that made the movie great. E.g. ‘I was the one to make it seem like Seagal could act’. He now seems resentful towards the public today as it seems like they only want to watch movies that are light hearted and they don’t want the action movies in which he had stunted in anymore. He thinks that the public is simple minded as he makes reference to the fact that an actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is now running the American state California.
Throughout the retelling of his story he is naked in his trailer and as he tries to commit suicide. As if to say that he’s been stripped of everything he’s had, being a stuntman made him who he was, he was born to be one. The nakedness could also represent the emptiness he feels inside; also even though he gives off this strong, tough persona he is still vulnerable. He addresses the audience maybe as a call for help or to give them a wake up call to how much the change in cinema affects the people you don’t care about within a movie.


Brit Films- http://www.britfilms.com/britishfilms/catalogue/browse/?id=5005DEF809cae1DCB5kiLvFBCA8C
Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMVRQIR2oQs
Joudun Leavy Blog - http://jondunleavy.com/crash_bang_wallow/crash_bang_wallow.html
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