GW-HS Short Film Festival

In lesson we had a 'Short Film Festival' by submitting one of our films:


Daniel Vidmar: Inside


The Film: 8/10
Pitch: 3/10


Tilly Whitehouse: One Man's Loss

The Film: 9/10
Pitch: 4/10


Charlotte Billingham: Waste

The Film: 9/10
Pitch: 7/10


Deanna Hopps: Post It

The Film: 8/10
Pitch: 7/10


Jack Parkes: Writers Block

The Film: 9/10
Pitch: 7/10


Dan Springthorpe: Awake

The Film: 8/10
Pitch: 3/10


Sam Lenton: Knowing Too Much

The Film: 7/10
Pitch: 6/10


Tina Vidmar: Time
The Film: 10/10
Pitch: 5/10


Tom Bentley: Perfect Life

The Film: 6/10
Pitch: 4/10


Cameron Hargreaves: Alone

The Film: 7/10
Pitch: 6/10


The overall winner of GW-HS Short Film Festival was Deanna's film 'Post It' winning by the film and the pitch. However our opinion of the best film, was Tina's choice of 'Time' that really hit home with everybody.

Further Short Film Research

I went away to find three short films, no longer than 5 minutes and analyse them and give our opinions:

Many Moons

This short was made by young British Film Maker, Bertie Gilbert. He specialises  in 'indie' type film making and makes shorts without any context to let the audience figure out themselves.

What Was Good?

• The edit of the shaky cam, blurring the lights around the city.
• The idea that the audience get to figure out their own.
• Lighting and set is great overall.

What would the audience find appealing?

• They can make it relate to their lives as they make their own context.
• It makes you think and engages the audience well.

Possible Target Audience

• 16-24 a very 'teen drama' based piece of work

Dead Girl

This short film 'Dead Girl' was made by Jack and Dean, two actor/director/editors on YouTube that create short comedy films.

What Was Good?

• Camera work for the opening shots was well done, with the tilt up and down and depth of objects in the room.
• The comedy aspect throughout by a well written and acted script.
• The editing of the sound as though they were talking through phones and sounds to accent words or phrases.

What would the audience find appealing?

• The comedic elements that give people laughs.
• The twist at the end with Dean's grandfather.
• The style of acting used to create the comedy.

Possible Target Audience

• 15-21: This style of comedy appeals to young audiences.

Link's Shadow

Link's Shadow is a short film based of video game, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time produced by Corridor Digital who specialise in Video Game based media. 

What Was Good?

• The special effects from digital to make up based effects were excellent quality and tie the whole film together.
• The music in the feature that was played by a real orchestra for the feature itself.

What would the audience find appealing?

• It relates to a video game that they know and love
• The quality of the product produced is a very high standard
• The effects and the storyline stay true to the Zelda franchise 

Possible Target Audience

• 16-25 with a mainly male demographic
• Fans of the Legend of Zelda series

Initial Short Film Research

So as a class we watched three short films, 'The Black Hole', 'What's Virgin Mean' and 'Strangers' all had very different feels and appeals to them so we analysed them:

The Black Hole

What Was Good?

• Acting style and the way the character is portrayed.
• The atmosphere of the film (set, props, lighting and colour)
• The sound effects (especially the warped sound)

What would the audience find appealing?

• The comedic aspect portrayed by the actor
• The film engages the audience quickly 
• Cliffhanger/Karma style ending that is also funny

Possible Target Audience

• Young Adults 17-24

What's A Virgin?

What Was Good?

• The symbolism by the use of props
• The setting is very realistic and relatable for the audience
• It's very comedic from start to end

What would the audience find appealing?

• That it's an awkward but relatable situation in family life
• The twist at the end 'What's extra virgin mean?'

Possible Target Audience

• Parents of Young Children 
• Teens and Young Adults

Strangers

What Was Good?

• Features a huge political statement
• No/Little dialogue needed to portray the story line
• The sound editing, the music reflected the situations perfectly
• Camera work was very well handled with the close ups, P.O.V shots etc.

What would the audience find appealing?

• That it makes a political statement during the current affairs
• It's very bold to create a film like this

Possible Target Audience

• An older audience that would understand the politics involved in the film

What Is A Short Film?

A short film is any piece of film that isn't long enough to be a full feature length film. For a film to be considered a short it is generally 40 minuets or less including a title and credits. Short films can be both made by amateurs or professionals (Pixar and Dreamworks both make shorts) and can range from mostly small or no budget but others can have as much budget as a feature film.

One of the most famous shorts are 'The Three Stooges' shorts that were shown in cinemas in the 1930's-1950's. Like alot of shorts they were full of comedy and slapstick lasting about 15-20 minuets. Modern shorts have become alot more sophisticated with a variety of different genres and styles from jokes to serious matters.

Coursework Brief

This years coursework is compiled of a main task of a Short, 5 minute film and two ancillary tasks related to the product of either, A Film Poster, A Radio Trailer or A Magazine Review for the film. Here is the task in OCR's words:

So this blog will follow my progress in making my final products, along with any knowledge I find along the way.

Welcome

Welcome to my A2 Media blog, that is following on from my AS course after it's completion. This will be where I will post my coursework as I go along from new things I've learnt to a final A2 Media Studies short film in a step by step showing what I'm up to as regard to my Media work.

Lucy