Camera Angles and Editing...

In short films, a variety of strong, storytelling camera angles are key. They use a shorter amount of time to tell the story compared to dialogue and in some cases can have more emphasis on points such as enigma.
Editing is part of the post-production, it is key in short films to signify when one scene has ended and another one begins.

AVARICE
 In the this short, we are given an establishing long shot. It sets us up with a bedroom and a mystery girl reading a book - title is unknown at this point. We then cut to a close up of the book, which gives the impression that it is significant to the film. A 45degree pan is then used to swing and show the audience the female lead reading the book 'Macbeth' and responds to look at her phone. We then cut to a close up of her phone which has a cracked screen, it is unknown if this has a significant mean. The shot reverses back a close up of her face staring at her phone and then cuts to a long shot of her changing position so she is sitting on the end of the bed staring out the window mournfully. We are then cut to side close up of her face so we can see she is debating what to do next.
In summary, we are poistioned with a young girl, presumably studying the play Macbeth and is in question as to what to do next or perhaps she is lonely and wondering why no one has contacted her. All of this is unknown. As the film goes on we see that she has a 'magic pot' which duplicates anything she puts in there, for example money, so very quickly she becomes quite rich and spends it all. However this all comes to an end and symolises what happens when you get greedy.

TICK TOCK
 We are first situated with an establishing medium shot of a ticking clock, which then pans to a young girl sitting on her bed enthusiatically. The camera pans again and we see a young male walk into the room from the corridor. The camera then sinks to the floor and blurs so that we only see bottom half of the couple. From their body movements we presume they are kissing, however the young male is then pulled out by a unknown spirit almost because do not see what pulled him out of the room. The entire first scene is in one take, so no editing has taken place. The speed of movement, obviously sped up signifies rapid changes in time.

 

 

 

-KW

Stop Motion...

Stop motion is an animation technique used in film where physical objects are hand-moved and images are taken to create frames, which then, after thousands and thousands of images are edited together, makes an animation. This technique is perhaps most famously used in the short film and TV series, 'Wallace and Gromit' where plasticine models are created and moved every 10th of a second (or something like that.)

Stop motion is a popular technique because it is somewhat easier to create than animation and the creators can be very creative in what they do. However, it could take several hours just to produce enough photos for a 10 second clip, which is why this type of animation is mostly used in short films innstead of feature-length animations. Stop motion can also be used to create fun but meaningless short films. An example of one of these is the 'T-Shirt War', which involves the two creators of the film changing T-Shirts every frame to give the effect that the T-shirts are moving. This works very effectively and is fun to watch.

I have considered using stop-motion techniques in my short film, as when they are done properly they can be very effective and entertaining to watch. However based on the time limit we have, it may not be possible to create a 5-minute long short film made entirely of stop motion, due to the sheer length of time usually required.

 

 

-KW

Sound...

The use of sound can be very powerful in the creation of short films. Sound in short films, in some ways, can be said to be more important than that in full-length films. This is because if full length films, the idea of there being no dialogue throughout the whole film is unheard of, whilst in short films it is fairly normal. If there is no dialogue, the sound itself will have to create the mood and guide the viewer into how they should be feeling in each scene/moment. It can also be used to indicate the genre and build tension if necessary.

Using the short film 'Virus' by Simon Hynd, the sound used creates tension and suspense using mostly what appears to be diagetic sound (the phone vibrating etc). This is very effective as it helps to set the scene of the film and causes tension for the reader, as it is meant to be a thriller. Without the sound in this film, the audience wouldn't know what to make of it or how to react.

Sound in short films is not only used to create tension and suspense. In the short film 'The Elevator', music is used to create a comedic affect. It plays whimsical music, like you would find in an elevator, while all the people are piling in, all whilst showing the anxiousness of the skinny man's face to add to the humour, then horror music that is found in the film 'Jaws', as the final fat man approaches, and this works very well in terms of making it funny.



-KW

Narration and Breaking the 4th Wall...

Narration

Narration is most commonly used in a film to show an older version of the main character narrating his life as the audience is watching. Some classic examples of this would be Kevin Spacey's character in 'American Beauty', Morgan Freeman in 'The Shawshank Redemption' and Tom Hanks as 'Forrest Gump'. If the narration is done properly, it can be very effective in engaging the viewer and causing them to grow attached to the main character because they can relate to them more.

(Kevin Spacey in 'American Beauty')

Narration has always been popular and widely used in cinema- from the early classics in the 60's and 70's to more recent blockbusters, such as Rene Zelwegger in 'Bridget Jones' Diary', Kristen Stewart in 'The Twilight Saga' and even Simon Bird as Will from 'The Inbetweeners Movie'. These examples however don't follow the classic structure of a character narrating his/her past, but instead, for instance in the case of Bridget Jones, they are narrating things as they happen- she is reading from her diary entries as she is writing them, making the viewer feel like they are also reading from her diary. In 'The Inbetweeners Movie' Will is not an old character speaking about his past, instead, just like in the show, he is guiding the audience through the failures of his life as they happen.

Breaking the 4th Wall

'Breaking the 4th Wall' is a term first introduced in 19th Century theatre, which describes a boundary or 'wall' between the play and the audience that seperates fiction from reality. Breaking this wall became commonly used to try and engage the audience more with the character that is breaking it and let them be more of a part of it. This would be done by talking to the audience as if no one on the stage could hear or see them. This is now almost always used in pantomimes and many other theatre productions. This method then went through a transition from the stage to the screen. Now, many films use breaking the 4th wall to form the attachment between the character and the viewer. This form is most commonly used in comedy films, such as 'Waynes World' and perhaps most famously, 'Ferris Bueller's day off'. 

('Ferris Bueller's Day Off'-Opening Monologue) 

-KW