Short Film Analysis

To give myself a better understanding of short films and the codes and conventions of them, I have decided to watch at least 30 of them and draw up a conclusion of the codes and conventions of short films from those I have watched. This will put me in a better position when creating my own as I will know how to ever stick to the codes and conventions, or how to challenge them in a creative way.


Name: This Is Me

• The film starts off with a heavy breathing sound and shows a close up of a piece of hospital equipment and a man attached to it. Narrative Enigma- What is wrong with the male?
• Shows lings expanding and reducing to the sound of the man breathing, sound becomes digested.
• A voice over explains who the man is, and when his wife enters, the voice over introduces her. The voice over has a Geordie accent so would not be understood in America as a British accent. 
• Rich wife looking at holiday magazine, and paying no attention to her husband.
• Flashback of males life shows him in a common British terrace house. 
• The sound of a voice over becomes digestive as male talks.
• Man is telling a story that has not happened yet in the scene, playing with time.
• Close up and fast pace editing used when explaining boring parts of the story.
• Music used to create humor and signify male is talking sarcastically. 
• Women who was seen before as rich is now wearing tatty clothing, and speaking in broad Geordie accent, signifying poor.
• Airplane mark on males head explains the narrative enigma as to why he was in hospital.

Name: Maybe One Day

• An inspiring film that tells us to break out of the regular life and live if only for a day.
• Starts off with quite a dark blue tint to signify the characters sadness but when he escapes the tint turns to bright and yellow to show his change of mood to happiness.
• A steadi-cam is used to show everything from the characters point of view.
• The whole film is like in a Documentary style of the characters everyday life.
• The non-digetic music used in the background at the start is quite slow and sounds like a lullaby sort of and the narrators voice reminds me of a schoolteachers in a history lesson where it makes you feel tired.
• When the character decides to escape the non-digetic music becomes faster and more lively plus the Narrators voice becomes more passionate which draws you into the film and you can relate to the characters emotion.

Name: The Black Hole

• Throughout the movie a Grey filter is used on the camera to connote the feeling of the male, very bored!
• First character shown is the central protagonist.
• The photocopier sounds are in sync with the heartbeat of the male to connote how repetitive his job is.
• Dutch angle used to signify there is something not right about the black mark.
• The film is clearly low budget as it is on Future Shorts Youtube channel.

   Name: Wrong Side of the Bed

• Very clear from the first few shots that this film is low budget.
• Use of split screening is a nice editing effect.
• The split screens show a binary opposition.
•  Simple titles used signify a low budget.
  

Name: Taken

• Starts off slow and simple. The character has no expression on his face due to the film being an animation so its hard to tell what they are feeling.
• The way the monster/creature smashes through the window and grabs the man is shocking as its totally unexpected.
• Has an unusual storyline.
  

Name: 2 Truths + 1 Lie

• Starts off slow and simple. The character has no expression on his face due to the film being an animation so its hard to tell what they are feeling.
• The way the monster/creature smashes through the window and grabs the man is shocking as its totally unexpected.
• Has an unusual storyline.

Name: Nov 14 2003

• Documentary style animation.
• Digetic sound of the Camera film rolling makes it feel like the film is old but it was made in 2003.
• No real storyline.
• Quite strange/confusing.

Name: LoveField

• The central protagonist is yet again the first person shown on screen.
• Black and white titles signify a low budget, or documentary style genre.
• The film waits until the ending before giving away any real signifies into its genre, by using a massive twist at the end which bring together the film and makes it understandable. 
• Close up and long shots are the main shots used in the film, there is no real experimental camera angles used.