This is my initial brainstorm, i came up with three initial ideas and plan to do more. My best idea i feel is the idea about walls and if they could speak it has more room for improvement and a stronger narrative to go with. I have thought of particular shot composition but plan to make more ides as well as develop this one.
From analysing both feature films and short films i have seen both similarities and differences. A short film has to engage and draw the audience in straight away because of the time limit, therefore the use of camera and editing is developed and more intricate to change the style within the first few seconds. Each short film is different and has unique narratives however a common convention that runs throughout is its pace of the narrative, the story has to be simplistic and easy to understand because the characters and emotions have to portrayed to the audience almost instantly within each scene. feature films have a big budget and can take a longer time to introduce both characters and narrative. By looking at The Italian Job directed by peter collinson we can see that the extract opens with a extreme long shot to establish location and a montarge of shots as a red race car meanders up a italian mountain side, this particular scene takes roughly two minutes thirty seconds for a shot film this is a long time period and as a title sequence is impossible to do simply because of the time limit. In contrast lovefield directed by Mathieu Ratthe, the feature takes 1.30 seconds to reveal to the audience some action and characters and finishes with in 5 minuets ,a common time that most short film directors use, this is a full minute shorted than The Italian Job which only shows titles for the first 2 - 3 minutes.
The feature opens with a series of extreme long shots, showing the far landscape and emptiness of this field reinforcing size and being alone, establishing location . dissolve cuts are used to signify a transition in time and specific place again adding to the fact no -one is around. The cinematography has a cold dull tone and is carried through in the titles colour scheme of silver and grey. the pace of editing is slow and ambiance of the crops is heard in the background, on top of this non diagetic sound is added to bring in what will become a dramatic piece of music adding tension and mystery of the extract. The director has used symbolic signifiers and iconography to lure the audience in to a state of UN-ease and shock, this ideology is soon converted into a completely different look and mood a convention the director creates through symbolism and then turns the meaning of each subject. the first symbolic signifier the audience see is the black crow which connotes death and tragedy, the squawk of the bird acts as a sound bridge in the film bringing each shot in with continuity and a good flow. as the camera tracks back raveling objects that denote a incident depth of field is used to focus on specific parts such as the mobile phone which is indexical to the lack of communication the victim has again reinforced by diagetic sound of the phone ringing constantly, as this scene progresses only diagetic sound of the woman screaming is heard as the continuous tracking shot frames a close up of her hands grabbing the straw and her feet moving in a struggle, the realistic diagetic sound adds to the verilisimilitude of the scene and creates a higher level of tension. the music comes to crescendo and the foot is centralised (not moving) then suddenly a second crescendo is parallel to the hand slamming a knife in the ground. the audience are convinced a murder or assault has taken place the iconography and the way the extract is shot , not revealing the face of the victims, reflects this view. however the pace builds as the man who is stereotypically dressed in a hill billy attire runs to the black car as he opens the boot, by going to the boot again links him to murder and as he holds a black bag it reinforces the attitude that he is a criminal and the protagonist of the film, jump cuts are used between the man and the crow as it hits the roof of the car this has no non diagetic sound and gives the impression that we as the audience are the crow looking in powerless to this mans actions. finally the scene is at a fast pace music is loud and violins play at a high pitch iconic to the thriller genre adding to the tension of the scene when suddenly all sound comes to a climax and a baby's cry is heard, as the baby is moved into the frame diagetic sound of there laughter is heard and the tone of the scene changes from cold grey to a warm orange reflecting the change in mood and meaning of the film, the pace becomes slow and parallel peaceful music is added, the film ends in a long shot revealing a tractor as the police arrive showing the true mans identity and the true films narrative.
key point the best thing about this film is how the director has taken iconography and sybolic subjects and used them to create a tense opening which is then turned on its head to reavel a happy ending. this could be done the other way!
The director instantly establishes genre one of the four areas i highlighted in my last post , narrative- genre- character- location, the scene opens with a extreme long shot panning around space then centralizing earth in the centre of the frame, by setting the initial scene is space it instantly resembles the sci-fi genre establishing genre through iconic signs and symbolic subjects of science, in both mise-en-scene and dialog. this film is a sub genre which means it blends two genres in this case sci-fi and action, to establish the film as action the scene soon builds to a fast pace extract as the meteor hits earth while fire is used again to set the title of the film alight as it explodes all signifiers that relate to the action genre, finally the use the US government and army reinforces genre and something i think directors use to establish genre is actors. By casting Bruce willis , a big action film actor , again links the film to the action genre.
A wipe transition is used to show a different location where the audience are shown nasa working on a satellite again reinforcing genre. the pace builds and as the meteor hits again a symbolic close up is used revealing the american flag ripping apart, this reflects how this natural force can destroy Earths most powerful nation with ease, which is symbolic and hints at the possibility of the events of a meteor hit but also links the possible narrative of the film. so within the first few minutes the director has linked genre and narrative 2 of the 4 areas i feel that most directors establish at the start of the film an example of this is in The Italian Job , which i posted before this analysis. within this scene there is a dual narrative between the meteor hitting and the pentagon trying to figure out the impact, with quick straight cuts to different location such as the pentagon - nasa - government office - new york adds to the national threat and the lack of understanding from the US , showing them as inferior. dialog is always key to an media text be it tv drama or film narrative can be established and key lines of dialog can be just as important as semiology in the first 5 minutes repetition of "unidentified" and "surprised" again shows the US to be inferior to this natural destruction.
the director introduces a variety of characters all from different classes jobs and background, first we identify with the main instructor at NASA and then we are introduced to the black "slag spoken" poor but charismatic individual and finally Carl a man who seems to be a lower class than the people at NASA this is shown through his attire the director has put him in very casual cheaper clothes than the NASA workers. by having the range of characters and people reinforces how powerful this natural disaster is and the range f classes shows how this meteor will effect each class and each nation , making it a global issue and something the whole human race come together to fight this issue
Patrick Hughes is a up and coming director he has just finished his first feature film Red Hill a action/ thriller/ Weston film. from his list of short films my two favourite are "The Director" and "Signs" the main aspects that draw me into his films are his unique narratives and his simplistic but effect cinematography.
first i decided it would be beneficial to look at some openings of professional films, this would give me a look at how directors film particular aspects and how the director commonly open a film i.e establishing genre within the first minute, or just techniques the industry use to portray a particular moment or theme.
the first extract i looked at was "The Italian Job" 1969 directed by Peter Collinson staring Micheal Caine, this film is a classic and a nations favourite the film its self is in the action crime genre and is a personal favourite. The extract opens with an extream long shot showing the iconic Italian mountain landscape , the director uses the camera to pan down raveling the whole location. i have studied lots of feature films and it seems to be a common convention that a director will establish 4 things within the first 4-5 minutes LOCATION NARRATIVE GENRE AND CHARACTER by looking at "The Italian Job" the director establishes these four areas in the first 5 minutes to establish location the extreme long shots are used and as the camera is positioned framing a mid shot situated in the car the audience are shown this continued shot as the car drives up the Italian mountain side again revealing location. The car itself is an iconic sign of action it is the sports car of its era ,Lamborghini, and is bright race red all conventions that relate to the action genre which is reinforced when the pace of editing builds and the sound changes to diagetic sound, heightening the level of verisimilitude , as the car crashes suddenly, low angled long shots with mafia in the foreground as well as background , connoting size and power, are an indexical sign of danger and action and iconic props such as guns are again used to reinforce genre.
the audience for this film is very much male orientated it is easy to see that the director has engaged in this fact and used it to his advantage. the director creates this emotion of men wanting to be the characters on screen, he uses codes and conventions to represent the men in this film as cool and sophisticated which in turn creates this idol role model type cast which men want to be , which could be one of the reasons why this film is so successful!. we as the audience first see this sophisticated collected man driving the sports car, he is shot in a point of view shot putting the audinece in a situation, this situation soon becomes relaxed and pleasurable as the location is shown in its beauty and the non diagetic music is pleasing and parrell to what is on screen. this male character is wearing a smart shirt and tie donating wealth and lifestyle and then he lights a cigarette which in 1969 is a very cool habit to have again adding to the status of this man and also showing how directors when creating a film that relating to the present time would uses props and subjects that relate to the current events and subjects of the time, something i think is vital to appeal to any audience and is something i would like to add into my short film. now the audience are in a state of relaxation, the extract comes to a climax and the car is destroyed by the mafia army, the car is thrown of the edge of the cliff, being an Italian location the director establishes a link to narrative and by having a character who is initially represented as cool and familiar killed puts the audience in a state of mystery again showing a deeper narrative. finally we are introduced to our protagonist of the film, he is represented very different to the originalcharacter but still as cool and familiar if not more familiar to the audience, the director uses a close up to introduce Micheal Cain ,playing Charlie , his exspesion is cheeky and he smiles at the camera, next the director uses a long shot reveling Micheal to be in prison which dose subvert the stereotypical hero. however Micheal with his first line of dialog shouts "cheerio lads" in a cockney accent this instantly puts him as English and creates this laddish "lovablerouge" type character he is cheeky yet sophisticated wearing a suit and creates a strong connection with the audience and being a cockney English man there is a level of familiarity with the British audience which dose put him as a idol status to the male dominated audience.
key points i picked up on: directors establish 4 main areas in the first 4-5 miniutes - genre - narritive - character - location directors realte to current times semiolidgy is very important use simple techniques and shots. action usually use a lot of tracking and movemnt within the camera narritive is always key to every second of the film must link.
