Short Film Project - Exploring Ideas

Short Film Project 


Initial short film ideas:

  • A narrative based on the life of a young woman who's troubled with substance abuse. She is currently sitting through a therapy session with a counsellor talking about some of the most prominent events in her life that has lead her down the path of drugs and alcohol. However, it's only towards the end that the counsellor realises the woman is talking about her life and past mistakes, and the narrative then reveals the woman to be another version of the counsellor but from a younger age. 
  •  A teenager visiting a remote lake and sitting on a pier whilst reliving the death of his younger brother who had previously drowned at the lake whilst they were hanging out there during summer a few years ago with their friends. Contrast of aesthetics with the day of the tragedy and the brother sitting at the lake- bright and warm tones, contrasting with dark, blue and grey harsh tones. Towards the end of the sequence, a narration of the younger brother talking to his brother plays over a shot of the teenager sitting and looking out onto the lake. 
  • A man has been shot and is bleeding out on a train unbeknownst to other passengers. The shot goes to flashbacks of the man and the initial situation that has got him in trouble in the first place. However, it keeps cutting to different places and moments, non-chronologically to add confusion and disorientation to the audience, but eventually pieces add up in the end and the whole story is revealed. The camera then goes back to the man who is getting off the train, who then falls onto the platform, unconscious. The moment where he falls, slows down and there is a shot of him from the back falling, with other passengers slowly reacting and running to him. The shot then cuts to black as soon as he hits the ground. 
  • A short film set in a society that similarly mimics that of George Orwell's 1984 where people are being watched constantly by the government and mysterious higher-powers. The film starts off with a woman hurriedly coming through an apartment door of an abandoned building holding onto a package secretly hidden in her coat. There is another person in the apartment who she startles awake from a sleep. The two characters have a very anxious and worried interaction where they argue about the package the woman has, alluding to the fact that it is something extremely sensitive and dangerous in her hands. It's later revealed to be a book containing all of the pinnacle moments of history, of which the government has been trying to hide to society to control it. It's then revealed these are members of a revolutionary group against the government. After the interaction between the two continues and other things are brought to light about the crime the woman has just committed, the scene then continues to show the police then finding the woman, with them crashing through the door and fighting the woman for the book whilst the other character flees. The woman dies with the police getting the book, only for the sequence to then cut to the other character in a completely different location holding the real book in their hands.   

Cinematic and Narrative ideas influenced by short film analysis:  

Many of the features included in the short films that I've studied that I believe I can incorporate into my own short film project include a variety of different camera angles as well as specific aesthetics and colour connotations to follow the narrative. One of the main camera angles that I've found many short films use are medium shots. This helps keep the focus on the characters and their narrative, rather than exploring an overwhelming amount of setting which could take away from the story. As well as this, a variety of close-up shots are also used which helps to identify important things in the stories in order to push forward the narrative and keep the audience aware of whats going on. The close-ups also allow feelings of personal connection, not only between the characters, but also with the audience. Aesthetics found in the short films are also very dark and and mysterious which helps to keep the tension in the narrative and create certain feelings towards a situation. This in turn helps to keep the audience on their toes and build drama when narrative twists come to light. Including high-key lighting where possible to highlight certain ideologies and character developments within the narrative is also something that I found certain short films do. The narrative ideas around the short films I've studied either contain multiple twists within the narrative which build drama and tension, and even comedic relief, or the narratives include ideologies of society and explore different struggles or behaviours in society today. These brief narrative ideas are something that I would like to focus on when it comes to my own short film project as i think it's important to convey a narrative that will engage the audience. In doing my analysis of the short films, I also found that non-diegetic sound was also used quite frequently, especially compared to diegetic, outside the dialogue of the characters. I would like to incorporate this approach of sound within my own short film project in order to help build tension from the narrative and create a feeling and perspective between the characters and their situation, for the audience. The film genre I would like to focus on would be drama as most of the short films I have looked at were in the drama genre. As well as this, potentially as another genre I would consider would be possibly a thriller genre, as it reflects some of the same conventions as a drama, but with more tension and suspense involved. Therefore by focusing on these types of genres in my project, it is important to incorporate the different cinematic techniques and ideas that are included in those films. Finally, I think that it is also important when looking at short films to focus on little details in both the narrative and cinematic ideas as these can hold a lot of weight when it comes to bringing the story to life- such as the colour of someones outfit in the film, or certain ideological motifs throughout the films presentation.      


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