Idea #2 Fantasy/Mystery

Again I got this idea from the film The Bair Witch Project. I liked this idea of the movie starting slap bang in the middle of a disaster or something curious and throughout the 4 minutes you have this idea that something I happening but you really have no clue but then your left with this cliffhanger that leaves you wondering what was actually supposed to happen could this happen could that happen etc, etc.
I mainly started to think about this last year during my AS media C/W when I was studying Brecht wholiked to alienate his audience and instead of them sitting there and realaxing whilst watching the movie they're constantly thinking and asking themselves these questions If? But? Maybe? How come? Where? Why? Just something that makes you actively work. I suppose a brilliant example of this would be The Matrix movies throughout the viewing you are constantly questioning the motifs of the film.

The only problem with creating a piece like this would be how are we going to create something so complicated and get all these questions going through the Viewers minds in 4 Minutes, without it looking amateur and awful my example of this is a previous A Level Short film that is so shocking that the only question that goes through your mind is Why on Earth Did I put This on?

Idea #1Thriller

I liked the idea of watching a movie that constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat and wanting to know more and more but also scaring you so much that you almost have to walk out of the room but your subconscious doesn't want to. I didn't really get this idea from a short film I got this from a couple of feature films.

Cloverfield

I liked the idea of having a documentary style type film where it's supposed to be about one thing but ends up being another a lot like Hitchcock and his idea of using a red herring to hide the real horror.

Others like this include

The Blair Witch Project

and

Paranormal Activity

How Are Short Films Consumed?

There are different ways that short films are consumed. From extras in movies to short film festivals. Although in my opinion I think that a festival is the best way for short films to be consumed because there is a crowd examples include:
The London Short Film Festival or LSFF:
The London Short Film Festival, now in its 11th year, is recognised as the premiere UK showcase for cutting-edge UK independent film.
Renowned for daring cross-arts programming, we showcase the very best of the country’s raw talent. The London Short Film Festival is a Mecca for the UK’s young creative talent and a significant date in the UK film calender.
Every year the Festival’s large and loyal audience flock to screenings and events, and this network has grown steadily over almost a decade.

This is a film that was shown in the LSFF.

Aesthetica Short Film Festival:
An established and dynamic player on the UK film festival circuit, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival (ASFF) is a celebration of independent film from across the world, and an outlet for championing and supporting short filmmaking. Join us from 7 – 10 November 2013 to take part in the experience.
Spanning all genres including drama, documentary, animation, comedy, music video, thriller, experimental and artists’ film, the festival showcases its films across 15 distinct and historic locations in the city of York. Moving between medieval halls, ancient city walls, boutique cinemas, galleries and museums, the festival invites visitors to create their own unique viewing experience.
Alongside screenings, ASFF also presents a series of masterclasses and workshops with leading industry figures, working with such organisations as BAFTA, Channel 4, Film4, Warp Films, Raindance, Sheffield Doc/Fest and many more. There are also guest screenings, networking opportunities and special events throughout the weekend.

This is an award winning short film from the Aesthetica Short Film Festival.

There are other ways of consuming Short Films for example the extras on DVD's these can be anything from interviews with the cast to bloopers and deleted scenes.
This is the deleted scenes from the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:

Of course these Short films are all distributed from YouTube. So another fantastic way to consume Short Films is through the WorldWideWeb. Here aere just  few examples:

This is by an independent short film company who work on a budget and make their money through the advertisements on YouTube.

This is a short movie created by the BBC and can be viewed via the BBC  website.

As long as the short films are distributed in the right way example: before a film at the cinema or before a largely viewed television show (Downton Abbey) then the short film will be able to make itself a small amount of money or just for amateur directors to advertise their brilliance.

Telling a Whole Story in a Few Minutes

The difficulties in creating a short film in a few minutes is that there has to be the right kind of story. It has to be well thought out. If the story is not strong enough then there is no point in creating the short film. Although in saying that if you have a good story but awful actors then the story will be useless.
It also depends on the editing and the diegetics and dubbing over when there is noises in the background and it's difficult to hear the speech.
There is the problem of having this huge idea but then having to fit it into a 4 minute time slot. Although this can be good at the same time because you can then use the best of this great idea and start it from the middle or the end or the beggining and throughout we have this idea that there will be a cliffhanger and you leave the audience wanting to know whats going to happen.
With the short storyit's so impoortant that there is a narrative that is clear. For example Vladimir Propp's theory of having:
A protagonist-Leads the narrative, is usually looking for something (a quest)
A antagonist-gets in the protagonist's way
A heroine-becomes a prize for the hero
A father-an authority figure who offers a reward to the hero for completing their quest
A helper-often avts as a sidekick
A donor-gives the hero something (a clue, or powers etc)
A mentor-teaches and guides the hero.
An example of this would be:

The Protagonist is Burn-E, the Antagonist is Wall-E and so on.

What Is a Short Film?

What Is a Short Film? An interesting question, a short film can last from 3.5 minutes to 45 minutes all depending on what it is that we're watching and the difficulties that are behind the plot.
Short Films are to be simple but enjoyable.

Short films are often created by professional and amateur film makers and are usually for non profit, either with a low budget, no budget at all, and in rare cases big budgets. Short films are usually funded by film grants, non profit organizations, sponsor, or out of pocket funds.

Although they are lower in status than a feature film some of the worlds best comedians moved up from shorts to features such as Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin and buster Keaton.

This short film both features Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

In the 1920's people would have paid to see a movie but before and/or after the movie they would have seen up to 5 shorts including a newsreel.
this became incredibly popular in the 30's as people would have depended on the comedy that came with the shorts, comedy was the most common genre to create a short film in.

Later shorts included the works of Walt Disney and Warner Brother cartoons seen below:

This is one of Walt Disney's Shorts made in 1938 Ferdinand The Bull an Oscar Winning short!

This is one of Warner Bros shorts the Looney Tunes.

Since then the world has evolved and with it technology people now depend on the interne to broadcast their short films via YouTube and Vimeo. The BBC filmmakers site focus on showing curated shorts.

Nowadays shorts are starting to become popular with certain film company's like Disney Pixar who made these films:

This is La Luna by Walt Disney and it was played just before certain Disney movies like Brave and Cars etc.



Experimenting With Photoshop

 

 

 

We were taught the how to use Adobe Photoshop previously for our AS film opening. But this year we had then done a more advanced couple of classes when we learnt how to use different tools that would be more useful with our A2 short film this year.

 

My favourite tool was the lasso tool it was so useful to cut those corner and it saved time as it automatically knew the shape of the object you wanted and therefore we were able to cut it out quicker.

 

The main thing that I struggled with was checking that I had made a new layer and if I hadn't to then go and make that extra layer for some people it would have been quick and easy but for me I had to keep referring to the noes I had taken during the presentation previously this took up a lot of my time and it was not helpful at all in finishing projects.

 

This little guy above though is one of my finished projects used with only natural pictures the eyes are black eyed beans the arms and mouth are sticks cut down to a suitable length for the body and the body is obviously a type of wild mushroom. I then copied it onto a bridge in the forest and my character came to life.

 

Although the classes had helped me I thought that I just needed a bit more help so I went onto YOU TUBE and found a few helpful tutorials this is just one of them.

 

                                    

This ones just about the basics but there are plenty of others that concentrate on certain parts of Photoshop and about certain tools as well.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Adobe Photoshop and even though it took time in using it I cannot wait to start using it for my coursework.