Storyboard/ Schedule

Myself and my group partner Bradley have created this timetable showing when we are both available to shoot/edit our short film. We feel that with this oraganisation, we will be able to make the best use of our limited free time, and we should be able to create some really impressive work.
The table shows when we are BOTH available at the same time, but some shots (e.g. the first person perspective shots set in each character's houses) would not need both group members present in order for them to be completeed, meaning we can use our available free time to work on the finer details, and spend a large amount of time on our edit.

following this, we have created a storyboard highlighting the shots which will need to be filmed, and the narrative of our work. Obviously this will be open to interpretation and creative allowances, but we aim to use this as a rough guide in order to make production as efficient as possible

Short Film Idea Pitch

As part of our classwork, we were asked to pitch our short film idea to our classmates. Below is the presentation I created for my pitch of our short film, titled "Quick".

Media Language - Social Groups

In my A2 coursework, the main social group that is represented are students. This means that the social group will consist of  people from all races, cultures, classes, and sexuality. The only exception is that they are all likely to be within the same age bracket (young adults.)

Generally, in media, teenagers and young adults are portrayed in a negative light. For example, the television programme Waterloo Road, set in a secondary school, throws at us a constant stream of story lines about the students being 'up to no good.' Some of the worst of these include:

• Student driving dangerously causes a major traffic accident that kills his best friend and puts his girlfriend into a coma
• Student expelled and arrested for sexually assaulting a teacher
• Two students arguing over a drug-deal. the fight becomes violent, friend attempts to intervene and is unintentionally, but fatally stabbed
• Student is shot by her boyfriend (diagnosed borderline psychopath) after attempting to break up with him
• an unruly student is shown to be using drugs on numerous occasions, as well as vandalising the school an bullying other students into vandalism too. This same student also spikes a teacher's lunch, which results in that teacher being in a serious car accident whilst driving his pregnant girlfriend to A&E
• Student reveals his homosexuality to his best friend, who reacts with anger and disappointment. Student is forced into an unhappy relationship with a female friend in order to keep his secret.
• Under age student having sexual relations with a teacher
• 2 female students becoming pregnant by the same boy
• Student's use of cannabis, later resulting in a diagnosis of schizophrenia. 

This programme has been running for 10 series now, so almost anybody that watches television is likely to have seen at least one episode. Having spent 5 years in an average, comprehensive, mixed sex secondary school, I can safely say that I, nor anybody I attended school with, would be able to relate to a single story line presented within this programme. (With the exception of story lines referencing mental health, many teenagers will experience having/knowing someone with a mental illness during their time in school, just not with the consequences presented in Waterloo Road.)

It's programmes such as this that cast young adults in such a poor light. They've taken situations that occur within a tiny minority of teenagers, blown them widely out of proportion, and generalised them to ALL students.

In my A2 coursework, I've' tried to represent the teenage characters as good people.

A key point about the characters is the fact that the male/female friendship is purely platonic. The media makes a huge deal out of sex culture in teenagers and so we hope to show through our characters that sex is not the only thing teenagers think about. The male character attempts to save the female character, not because he hopes to get her into bed, but because she is his friend.

Other stereotypes we've ignored is the idea that a persons style of dress defines them and who they are allowed to be friends with. Typically, the male character's style of dress would see him classified as a "chav." This is the teenage stereotype that carries the majority of the negativity, as they are often seen as 'yobs' who hang about on the streets late at night, carrying knives, and committing petty crimes. The female character could expect to be called a 'goth' or an 'emo' and would usually be the target of bullying from 'chavs.' In my media product, we show these two characters to have a strong friendship, despite the differences they are expected to have due to how they look. 

Character Costumes

The female character, Brógan, has a unique and expressive style of dress. Her clothes are very simple but often hint to the punk style of the 70's and 80's. She also wears lots of merchandise sporting names of bands she listens to. Her retro Lego bag is the one thing she will never leave the house without.

Below are some images of some typical items of clothing for this character: 

The male character, Bradley, has a much simpler style of dress. Typically he dresses for comfort and practicality rather than fashion. Riding a motorbike to college every day means he is limited to clothes that are suitable for use with his motorbike and the protective clothing worn for it. 

Shown below are clothes this character would typically wear: 

Character Profiles

Female character: Brógan

In some ways, she adhears to the stereotypes of a female teenager. She puts a lot of time and effort into her appearance, although her style is a little more individual than most people. To put a label on her, we could call her style 'Punk' but this often varies depending on her mood, and the weather. Most people think that her favourite colour is black, but really, it alternates between purple and orange. she is usually seen sporting a set of earphones, her Ipod ranging from Bob Marley to Slipknot.

Personality wise, Brogan is a do-gooder. She's happy to lend a hand to anybody that needs her help. She pays a lot of attention to the people she cares about (sometimes too much!) and she likes to see only the good in people. She is a good listener, which is probably why she gets on so well with the male character,  Bradley.

Male character: Bradley

Bradley is the embodiement of the 'typical student.' He likes to dress for comfort as opposed to fashion, meaning you'll often see him in a pair of tracksuit bottoms. (That's not to say that he dresses badly!) From his headphones, we can expect to hear a house music megamix. On an average day Bradley can be found in the gym getting "ripped" or in the kitchen cooking up foods to fuel his workouts.

Bradley is brilliant 'friend' material. he's always willing to lend a hand and he's always available for you to bend his ear should you need to. he's observant, meaning he's likely to know when something's not quite right. Bradley likes people to 'tell it how it is' which explains why he's good friends with Brogan. everybody needs to hear the truth once in a while.

Media Language: Hegemony

hegemony refers to a group of people in society who have power and influence over others within that society. The group may have power due to wealth, or majority, but in all cases, they use their influence to place their ideas and beliefs onto the other groups within society, and over time, these groups will begin to accept these ideas, not through choice, but simply because very few alternatives exist.

If there is a large production company with very sexist views of women, and a small independant production company with strong feminist beliefs, the larger company would be the one to instigate the hegemony. They would be able to use their assets e.g. money, to overpower the smaller company by buying it. Then, over time, they would begin to subtley place their ideologies into the work of the smaller company, therefore altering the views of the smaller company.

Media Language: Ideology

Ideology is a collection of ideas that are presented by a media product. It often takes the form of the 'moral of the story'. The ideology is placed in the product by the company that produces it, and in most cases will represent the views and  beliefs of the company. An example of this can be seen within American films, in which American citizens are represented as extremely patriotic, and are often the person to save the day in the end. American companies believe that they are strong and superior, and so they portray themselves this way within their media products.

In my A2 coursework, I represent the company who's ideas will be portrayed throughout the product. Being a teenager, I am all too aware of the negative stereotypes unfairly placed upon everyone in this age group. People often believe teenagers to be reckless, lazy, rude, and just generally bad people. Although this may be true in some cases, in reality this stereotype applies to a very small minority of teenagers. The ideology in my coursework is therefore created to neutralise this stereotype, and represent my age group truthfully. The main ways the ideology is presented are shown by the male character. In the opening of the short film the male character can be seen driving a moped, but more importantly he is seen to be driving it safely. Statistically, teenagers are the group most likely to be involved in a road accident, but that doesn't mean that every teenager is a bad driver. I think that by showing this character in this way, it is a small step towards changing the way people view young drivers.

Poster Analysis

Upon looking at this poster the first thing I notice is that it is a landscape image, as opposed to portrait, as is typically seen in the film industry. The unusualness of this immediately captured my attention, and I am strongly considering incorporating this into my coursework.

In the centre of the image, we can see a young girl in a formal dress, although her  innocence is immediately ruined for us by the fact that she is pointing a gun towards the audience. This could be representing the idea that you shouldn't assume anything about a person based on their appearance e.g. just because she looks like a sweet child, doesn't mean she is. The pink and purple lighting of the background of the image can tell us a lot about the character and the themes of the film.

Representations of the colour pink:
-This colour represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing.
-Pink is feminine and romantic, affectionate and intimate, thoughtful and caring. It tones down the physical passion of red replacing it with a gentle loving energy.
-Pink is intuitive and insightful, showing tenderness and kindness with its empathy and sensitivity.
-In colour psychology, pink is a sign of hope. It is a positive colour inspiring warm and comforting feelings, a sense that everything will be okay.
-The colour pink represents the sweetness and innocence of the child in all of us. It is the colour of uncomplicated emotions, inexperience and naiveté. A constant and exclusive use of pink can often lead you to become immature, silly and girlish, abandoning your adult responsibilities.
Pink can also remind you of earlier childhood memories, associated with nurturing and comfort from your mother or a mother figure.

Although it may appear as though the entire film plot has been given away by the poster, in reality, we know next to nothing about what has caused this scenario, or what will happen as a result of it.

Treatment

Short film- "Quick"

all shot in first person perspective, using a head mounted camera with a fish eye lens.

- Both characters wake up from sleeping in their beds
- Male character begins working out
- Female character showers (not shown explicitly)
- Both characters eat breakfast
- Male character washes
- Female character applies her make-up
- Female character styles her hair
- Male character dresses (not shown explicitly)
- Both characters leave their homes, to begin travelling to college
- Male character gets on a moped, and begins to drive
- Female character walks to a bus stop
- Alternating shots between male character driving and female character waiting at the bus stop
- Female character boards a bus
- Male character continues driving
- Female character disembarks the bus
- Male character pulls into college car park, into his favourite parking spot
- Male character walks towards the road, in order to meet female character
- Female character steps out into the road
- A bus passes in front of male character, obscuring his view of female character
- Screeching tyres can be heard, followed by a large thud
- People can be heard screaming as screen cuts to black
- Screen cuts to male character waking up, obviously panicked
- Male character realises he has been dreaming, and has had some kind of premonition.
- Male character's morning journey to college is shown again, only this time much more rushed as he worries about female character
- Shots of male character driving to college, driving far less cautiously
- Male character pulls into car park, doesn't bother finding his favourite parking space
- Male character sprints towards the road and crosses using the traffic lights
- Female character's bus pulls up just as male character reaches the bus stop
- Male character is physically tired and out of breath, but tries his best to disguise this as he greets female character as if nothing is wrong
- Male character suggests going to get a coffee before class. He avoids mentioning anything that happened that morning.

Media Language: Semiotics

Semiotics is the study of 'signs'. The basic formula for semiotics is made up of 'the signifier' and 'the signified'. 

The signifier is the image itself, what it shows, and what the audience sees when they look at it. The signified is the connotations suggested by the image, and the implied meanings that the audience will take from it. 

Some examples of semiotics taken from my AS Coursework: 

In this image, the audience sees a woman using a photocopier. By her style of dress, and the environment she is in, we can guess that she is in an office type environment of some kind. This simple view of the image would be the signifier.
The signified aspect of this image is was really gives it it's quality. In the lower left hand corner of the image, you may or may not have noticed the strange looking girl standing on the staircase, visible through the window. Although she is not hiding, most people would not see this character straight away. This idea of 'hiding in plain sight' encourages the horror theme running throughout my coursework. The implied meaning of this is that danger can be right in front of you but most of us don't pay enough attention to notice it. This is boosted by the idea that the 'danger' in this scenario is not an object, but another person.


The idea of 'hiding in plain sight' has been sucessfully used in many horror films, but possibly the most effective use of it i have seen was in Insidious.

The signifier of this image is just a stack of paper, probably some sort of office filing, nothing overly interesting. only upon closer inspection would the audience notice the writing ON the paper, which informs us that this 'office filing' is in fact a psychological assessment, stating that the patient it relates to is classified as 'Extremely Dangerous.' From this, the audience are able to make their own decisions about the reasons why a person could be considered dangerous, and therefore each person's interpretation of the film will be different. This is intended to be a horror film, so i really like the idea that the audience are able to create their own fears because they are putting their own interpretations into the film, so will make the film more personal to themselves. 

This screenshot, taken from the opening credits of my coursework, initally appears to be a typical horror film cliché. Bloody handprints are not uncommon in horror, and are most often left by the 'victim.' In this case, the signified aspect of this is formed by the fact that the handprint features 6 digits, as apposed to the 5 we normally expect. This hints to the idea of something paranormal or unusual. Although in most cases, the significance of this handprint is missed by the audience, due to the style of our editing. From this mistake i have learnt how best to present these signifiers to the audience, for fuller impact.

Influences

The plot for our story is heavily influenced by the Final Destination films. In these feature films, the main character experiences 'visions' or 'premonitions' which show how his friends will die. He then has to act upon this information in order to protect his friends from death. In our short film, the male character appears to experiece similar premonitions. The difference with our short film is that, the deaths are a lot simpler, and therefore are more likely to happen in real life e.g. stepping out into the road and being hit by a car, as apposed to being stabbed and set on fire simultaneously, as seen in Final Destination.  We liked the idea of the character waking up and realising that his dream was not just an ordinary dream, but a vision. Our plot uses this idea but puts a twist on it. We decided to base it on a situation that our target audience is likely to encounter on a daily basis. for most people, their daily commute is so mundane and repetative that they could do it with their eyes closed. Our short film takes this idea, and uses it as a ploy to draw the audience's attention in. They can expect that something interesting is about to happen, but they get the enjoyment of trying to figure out what might happen. 
a recurring theme through our short film is the idea of parallels. Constantly the shots are switching between the lives of two different people, highlighting the ways in which something as simple as their journey to work can be so different. Although this was not directly influenced by any individual piece of media, it is a common trademark in action films to have a male character who leads a fast paced dangerous lifestlye, and a female who has nothing better to worry about than her hair and her routine life. In our short film, we are working on the stereotypes that one character is male and one is female, but this is simply through choice, as the idea could work with two male characters or two females just as well. Both characters would still have the contrasting lifestyles, it just means we would not have the gender stereotypes to play up to. 

Testing Our Idea

This is a short clip of us testing the idea of shooting from a first person perspective.  Doing this was helpful for us as we have realised that the concept of shooting in first person would work well for our idea, and we also learnt which techniques we would need to use in order to make this look professional and effective. In this test clip, we shot with a basic camera which was held in the right hand of the actor. This means that a lot of the footage is quite shaky, especially as the actor was walking whilst filming. For our final production, we have managed to arrange to use a high end Go-Pro camera, which is often used in the sports filming industry as it reduces shake and is able to withstand a fair amount of impact. This camera, aside from the better footage it produces, has a fish eye lens attachment, which creates a really good looking effect, making our film more interesting. 

Who Is The Audience for Short Films?

The target audience of short films is a rather small audience, made up of two main groups of people, those who work in the short film industry, and those who want to work in the short film industry. Obviously, when trying to get into an industry, it helps to be familiar with its conventions. So an aspiring film maker may spend a lot of time watching a wide variety of short films in order to pick up some creative techniques and ideas, and essentially learn what makes a good short film. 

Often, the target audience of a short film will vary depending on the content of the film itself, much like in the feature film industry. For example, a film about a victim of bullying in school is likely to be watched my children/young adults around the age of those in the film, often because they are able to relate to the story through their own personal experiences, and turn to these films in order to make themselves feel less alone and alienated.

I think that the reason that short films have such a small audience is mainly due to the fact that people just don't realise they're there. Recently, this has started to change. With the ever growing popularity of YouTube, and its ability to be a quick and easy way to share videos virally, more and more people are taking to making short films and posting them online. This new availability means that people are going to be able to discover short films more easily, and the target audience will expand, and will no longer be limited to those in the film industry.

Recently, Dreamworks have placed their foot in the door of the short film industry, creating a series of animated shorts that are shown in cinemas before the start of the feature film. This will hopefully create a massive boost to the short film genre, as it reaches out to a huge number of people, who clearly already enjoy some forms of media, and introduces them to this new creative aspect of films. 

The Target Audience of my A2 Coursework

For my A2 coursework, the target audience we are aiming for are young adults between the ages of 15-25. Based on the idea we have drafted so far, we feel like the content of our film would appeal to this age group the most. For example, we plan to start our short film with a scene featuring 2 people on their journeys to college, the boy's journey being fast paced and intense, around long country roads on a motorbike, and the girl's simple and relaxed.

We feel that our target audience are likely to experience something of this sort in their day to day life, as the age range specified can include a large proportion of students. This means they are able to relate to the film from the start, and will be able to think about the events happening in relation to their own journey, looking for similarities and differences. This idea could take inspiration from Reception Theory, in which audience is considered as each individual, who will take their own meanings and messages from media, making it relatable for themselves.

Having done some research into psychographics, we found several youth-orientated categories that could be applied to our target audience:

• Utopians- this type of person just wants the make the world a better place. I feel that they would be part of our audience as the male character's only aim in our short film is to get to the girl in order to protect her, and therefore make everything all right. this would appeal to the Utopian's kind nature.

• Trendies- This kind of person aims to look 'cool' at all times. I think they would be able to relate to the male character in our short film, as he does appear very cool as he speeds through town on his motorbike. They would see him as a bit of a rebel but not so much that they feel he should get into trouble for his actions. They may look at this character with admiration, and aspire to be as cool as he appears. Also, we rarely get to see the character's face (due to most camera angles being POV shots), so the perceived "coolness" of the character would not be based upon looks as is normally the way.

• Puritans- this category of person should be able to associate with the female character in our short film. Her life is shown to be lovely and simple. She sticks to all the rules and doesn't seem to get into any trouble. Puritans wish to feel virtuous, so this "goody two shoes" persona should fit right with them. Also, it is common for people of this kind to be bullied during school, and it may always seem as if they are down on their luck. This also applies to our female character so there is a lot for them to relate to within our short film.

The Target Audience of My AS Coursework

for the coursework i completed last year, I believe that the target audience was young adults, aged around 18-28. By choosing this target audience it meant i was able to include all the components found within the horror genre in my product, and it would be age appropriate for the people watching it.

The demographic of this audience would most likely be the C2 bracket, which includes students and skilled manual workers. because of the age of our target audience we can safely assume they wouldn't be advanced enough in their carreer to be included in the higher brackets.

In terms of the psychographic of our target audience, this can be divided into the sub-catagories of the Youth orientated psychographic. This includes Trendies, Egotists, Puritans, Innovators, Rebels, Groupies and Utopians. For the coursework i completed last year, i'd say our audience fits into the Rebel, and Egotist catagories. These are made up of people who seek pleasure, often by breaking the rules, e.g. bullying or skipping class in school, and people who want the world to be as they see it, so will rebel against all the rules and do what they want.

The reason i feel that this is our target audience is because horror films often go against the social conventions of what is right and wrong. They tend to push boundaries and break rules, and often have strong messages about changing the world. An example of this can  be seen in the Saw series, where the main character aims to make people cherish their lives, but uses rather painful methods.

Horror has a very specific audience as many people find that violence and gore is too much for them to handle, or they do not agree with showing things like that in the media, or they do not understand the plot and the reasonings.

How Do Short Films Get Made?

Most short films work on little to no budget, so the first step when producing a short film is to figure out how much money you will need, and to get all the necessary equipment/actors/crew for a little amount of money as possible.
"how to make a short film"

To start work on your film, you need to get some funding:
The UK film council supports up and coming filmmakers who have the potential to create world class films. To access this you must fill in an application form and submit ot for assessment. If they like your idea and see potential in you, they are likely to provide you with a small budget for your film.
The UK film council also has a scheme known as ''The Innovation Fund' which provides funding to assist the film industry's transitition into the digital age.

The British Film Council provides the "Shorts Support Scheme" which promotes short films to key contacts within the global short film festival curcuit including Oberhausen, Aspen Filmfest, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Tampere and many others. They also provide a Travel Fund to allow short film makers to promote their films abroad.

You can also use the "crowd funding" method, in which you get members of the public to donate to your project. this could be in return for a mention in the credits if its a small donation... to 2.5% of the profits for big money!

Theories of Narrative

Torodov theorised that films work based around a period of equilibrium. This equilibrium, almost always at the start of the film, is somehow disturbed by a villian, or an accident etc, and so the main character will spend the rest of the film trying to solve this problem and restore the calm, normal life we found at the start. This gives the film a distinct start, middle and end.
An example of this can be seen in the Harry Potter series. Throughout the series, Harry is attempting to destroy the villian, who is disturbing the peace in the Wizarding World. In the final film, Harry finally defeats Voldemort, and instantly, a sense of calm washes over you. The audience is now aware that normality has been restored. The characters continue on with their very uneventful lives.
This then highlights to the audience that the story is over. You get a sense of closure and are able to take in all that has happened throughout the film.

This theory will be helpful for me during my coursework as it will help me to create an ending that will be effective and leave the audience with a sense of fullfilment.

Why Do Short Films Get Made?

One reason short films get made is because aspiring filmmakers want to test out ideas and storylines before blowing a big budget. This allows them to recieve feedback from their target audience and make any changes their idea may need before producing it as a feature length film. It also allows them to try out new styles and techniques and learn their trade further, before getting into the main industry, where you're stuck in one genre of one style.

It could also be that the creator has a winning idea, but its too short to withstand a full 90 minute feature. This is very often the case with films with an emotional storyline, or a policical campaign as its basis. These ideas can be created very powerfully, but if dragged out too long, they lose their energy.

Many short films are created to be entered in to festivals. This type of short film sits more in the artistic bracket, as the creators want this short film to be their calling card. By winning awards and getting festival plays, they are able to have their name and their talents spread around, thus enabling them to more easily raise budgets and get funding for feature length projects.

Theories of Genre

Stuart Hall theorised that the audience perceives a film in relation to their own experiences and opinions. Therefore, no two people will watch a film in the same way. Those who share similar socio-cultural backgrounds are more likely to experience a film in similar ways. People who cannot identify with the film tend to have a very different socio-cultural background and as a result they will choose not to watch films of that genre. The idea is quite evident in the last piece of coursework I completed. 

For example, it is unlikely that many people will enjoy and relate to a horror film, as they do not understand the background, meaning a large proportion of people are alienated from the audience. Because I chose to create a piece of coursework that sits in the thriller/horror genre, I have inadvertently reduced the size of my audience straight away.

New genres are being created all the time. There are many crossovers such as Sci-Fi/Action, Action/Adventure, Romantic/Comedy, as well as an increasing number of sub-genres within a genre. This is particularly evident in horror films, featuring sub-genres such as: psychological horror, gothic horror, slasher, zombie, horror terror, and torture horror.

Each specific genre will have its own formula – a combination of tricks, techniques and props that are instantly recognisable. These formulas are used over and over again due to their effectiveness, and often become genre clichés. An example of this would be the “person standing behind you, seen in the mirrored bathroom cupboard.” When the audience sees this, they usually guess what is about to happen, which many people enjoy, hence why they choose to watch multiple movies of the same genre. 

One of the classic symbols seen in my coursework was the use of misdirection. Something boringly average happens in the middle of the screen, whilst the “horror character” moves around undetected off to the side of the screen. This trick plays on the audience’s minds, and often causes them to watch the film multiple times to see what else they might be missing. Other clichés used in my work included the typical extreme close ups, the dark instrumental soundtrack, and the enigma provided at the start of the story, to keep the audience’s attention throughout. 

Key Concept Analysis: Codes and Conventions

the majority of camera angles in this film are done in such a way that it looks as if the audience is an outsider watching the action happen in real time, especially the low angle shots that make it feel as if we are sat on a bench on the platform observing.  The colour correction in the film is very expressive of the mood of the characters. The light from the sun as it starts to set gives a warm glow to all the footage, causing the audience to cast their minds back to that warm fuzzy feeling we get when we're with a person we care about a lot. I feel that the colour correction on the footage accentuated this, and also gave it a slightly rosy look about it, possibly hinting to the expression "looking at someone through rose tinted glasses". Basically, it means that when looking at someone affectionately, our feelings for them often mask the less appealing qualities of the person, making everything appear to be lovely and rosy, when the reality is just a little less sweet than that.  codes and conventions of a short film Typical of short films, this film takes place over a time plan of just 2 days, and yet in that time we are presented with a whole detailed story of how two people met, and their feelings for each other. This style of 'quick fire' representation of character, in my opinion, is difficult to achieve, but when done correctly, is far more interesting that character development within a feature film. 
Also, this short film tugs on the audience's heart strings so much that I feared they might break completely. I like that they have produced a more real-life version of a love story. Although cute to watch, the audience can't really take much from a film where the characters live happily ever after. Hardly anybody finds their happy ever after in real life, and so the audience will find this film a lot easier to relate to than the more typical  love stories. I'm sure this is exactly what the producer was aiming for. Stepping into the shoes of he producer, we would want as many people as possible to relate to our product, in the hopes that they would spread the word about it, either by social networking, or simply word of mouth. After all, most short films are self funded. 

Key Concept Analysis: Representation

This short film focuses on the stereotypes of Asian culture, and the pressures they put on their children to be successful. In this short film, this is represented by a game called 'Perfection', which we see being played throughout the game, with the character constantly striving to finish it and become 'perfect'.  The representations within this short film are very powerful as it causes the audience to think about the stereotypes we put on people. For example, Asian families are known for having extremely intelligent children. Some may think this is due to genetics, but in reality, a lot of it is determined by the strict parenting style associated with that culture. The idea of the game within this short film gives a very simplistic explanation of what it is like in that culture. The mother teaches the child to play the game at a very young age, meaning this idea of perception has been forefront of this child's mind before it even understood what thoughts were. Some people might consider the mother's actions to be quite cruel, as, in one scene, the mother is seen to be placing the child in front of the game time and time again and forcing the young girl's hands towards the game, trying desperately to get her to do it properly.  The fact that we never get to see the mother's face gives the audience no human being to relate to, and so, we find the woman to be rather inhuman, and alien to us. we can also consider that this is how the girl would feel about her mother, she is never shown to be considerate, or compassionate, the audience, and the girl, have only ever seen her as nothing other than a woman pushing her towards perfection.  By using a game named 'Perfection' the audience gain an instant understanding of the purpose of the game, and the motives of the mother. In fact, the first thing seen on screen is the word "Perfection."  The film being in black and white could be seen to be representing the very black and white situation the girl is in. She is either perfect, or she is not. White is often a colour used to represent innocence and purity, which comes hand in hand with perfection.  The timer on the game could be seen to represent the seconds of the girls life passing by. Time that she should have spent playing, and having fun, have instead been spent practicing over and over again in order to become the child prodigy her parents are hoping for. 

Key Concept Analysis: Representation

This short film varies from most because the narrative is delivered in a different way. Instead of a separate voice over, we are told the story through a series of notes exchanged between the characters. In this sense, we feel as though we are watching the story actually happen, rather than hearing about it in past tense.

We learn about each of the characters, as they learn about each other. This is a very effective way to represent each of the characters in such a short space of time. We are able to see differences between the two people by their handwriting, what they write, and even what they write on.
The characters themselves are very typical to a romantic based film, fitting into all the stereotypes of a new couple. For example, they laugh a lot, spend time staring into each other's eyes, and getting embarrassed about their actions.

Also, a stereotype found within almost ALL romantic style films is how quickly they realise their feelings for each other, and how it takes even less time for them to act on them. In reality, if you were trying to talk to somebody who refused to take their headphones out (assuming they're not deaf) you would probably consider them a rather rude person. But, as is the way with romantic films, our male character refuses to give up, and returns the next day to see her again.

from personal experience of watching romantic films, it is a recurring theme that both characters have lifestyles that allow them to spend all day every day sat in a park exchanging post it notes, as opposed to going to work or spending time with their families. I sometimes feel that media representations of romance are slightly unrealistic, although the worst culprit of this is Disney. Short films tend to handle any issue with a lot more thought, and with a lot more sincerity.

Key Concept Analysis: Codes and Conventions

All media products have conventions they tend to stick to, and short films are no different. Typical conventions of short films are very evident in this product, the most obvious of all being the length. Short films tend to be between 3-10 minutes long, with this clip being no exception. (3:06) In my opinion, short films are often more powerful than feature length films as you get a short but hard-hitting piece of work, feature length films tend to have moments that feel very 'empty', as if they're just filling time. in short films, every second counts, and so only the best bits make the cut.  This links in with the next typical convention, which is to use a limited number of characters. This could be for many reasons, such as budget, or availability, but more often than not, only the most important details are included in the short film, so there is simply not enough time to introduce and represent 12 supporting roles in a story based around 1 person. It is much more effective to allow the audience to truly get to know and understand one character, than have a vague idea about who several characters might be. This is especially highlighted in the above clip. Although throughout the clip we see 6 different characters on screen, the only one we are directly told about is the main character, the young girl. We can assume the identities of the other character, but based on the fact that it is not pointed out to use specifically during the film, their identities are less important to us.  They do not waste a second of this short film with 'gap filling', we learn everything we need to know about our main character in the form of a recording of her voice, talking about her feelings. It is hinted multiple times that this may have been a suicide note left by the girl, and the audience can assume that is the case.  A technique often found in short films is the idea of representation. As seen in this film, the creator tends to hint at ideas, and hopes that the audience will figure it out. We see a woman who appears to be the girl's mother, sitting with the girl's school photo. At the beginning, this seems of no significance to the audience, as the film progresses, this moment becomes more and more powerful as we realise that this is her mother, listening to a cassette tape, mourning her child. The narration on the tape drags the audience in, and we are submerged into the girl's thoughts and feelings. slowly, we are made to realise what the girl is talking about. Throughout the film we learn that the young girl does plan to commit suicide, but it is represented so tastefully and delicately that the audience are able to genuinely feel for the girl, and for her mother. (in some films I've watched, suicide has been represented in a very unrealistic way e.g. the feature length film Cyberbully, in which a girl who has been bullied for what appears to be a week, attempts to commit suicide. She fails, and then everybody feels bad and starts being friendly to her. This can't be a good message, surely?)  The 'storytelling' of this short film was constructed cleverly. The cassette tape provides a past tense context to the real time images the audience sees. We see the girl's life before her suicide, so the audience gets to see a character that they can relate to, yet, I feel that the camera work is what really gives this film its power. The soft colour correction helps the audience to understand and feel the serenity the girl is experiencing in her 'special place' and also gives us a strong feeling of innocence. The camera allows us to see what she sees, without being shot in first person perspective. Even in the darkest of times she is still seeing the beauty in the world, and this is cast out onto the audience. We are her. in that moment we feel what she feels. 

Short Film Analysis 1- The ChubbChubbs

the ChubbChubbs is a very interesting short film as it features a cute main character that the audience instantly likes, and feels sympathetic for. It also features some unlikely cameos from characters we all recognise from other feature films, especially Darth Vader, and JarJarBinks from Star Wars. The ending of the film is especially interesting as it takes us on a totally unexpected plot twist, where we find out that the cute little yellow creatures are infact the infamous ChubbChubbs we are supposed to fear.  The animation of the short film is very well done, as are the day dream scenes. It's very easy to follow the story and keep track of all the action.