The Set Up (Our Final Short Film)

This is our final piece we have been developing for the previous few months. Although after watching the piece back and gaining feedback the group have collectively seen how we could have improved certaing scenes whilst the protagonist is inside the house, we feel that with the time we had to complete filming and editing, the job we have done have been highly successful. We are also taking into consideration that this is both mine and my partner's first time of creating a short film of around four and a half minutes which has been able to hold the target audience's attention.

The Short Film Industry

 I have spent some time researching on how short films are distributed throughout the film industry. Usually short films are created by young people such as myself who may be pursuing a career in film making to gain experience of the film creation process. Short films may also have been created for different reasons such as:
-An individual attempting to express their ideas or opinions on a specific subject
-Film companies testing out their concepts
-Film companies testing their ideas on a target audience

These short films will then be shown to a specific audience or through an event such a film festival to recieve feedback and to display acheivement of creating the film.
The purpose of my short film is to appeal to a specific target audience considering the genre i choose to create. I know that this film will need to follow typical conventions of the specfic genre i finally choose rather than expressing my own opinions on  a subject as my film will need to appeal to the target audience rather than pose questions to the viewer. However, with myself as the director, i am sure i will find points in filming and editing when i am interjecting my indiviudual means of expession rather than constantly thinking about signs and codes intended to help the viewer to gain an immediate understanding of the piece.

The European Independent Film Festival 2012

The media A2 students attended the 7th European Film Festival in March, which took place in Paris, France. Going to watch experienced film makers showcasing their short films was highly interesting as i was able to see how a range of genres were portrayed in different ways throughout the three days. I found that watching back to back films, i learnt a lot about myself as a film director and was able to pin point parts which i felt worked really well to the narrative of each piece. One short film titled 'My friend the thief' which was played at the festival was sent in by a young film student who had filmed a documentary about the life of the infamous Peter Scott, an aged gentleman thief who during his life of crime and high living orchestrated grand heists such as the theft of a Vermeer, and looks at how his days are ending in loneliness and rage.
We were able to speak to the director Roland Kennedy before the viewing and discovered how he had been filming the whole piece over the past year, editing in the main points which would reveal to the audience what he had found most interesting and heart wrenching in the spanse of a year, condensed in a twenty five minute film. His editing to convey to the audience what he had experienced over the past year would have been a long process with sections of his life being shown one after the other with a title between each. Although Peter Scott's life was not displayed in chronological order it was still clear to the audience, the course that this thief's life had taken. I found his placing of sections kept interest to the audience as we firstly were introuduced to the character and then lead through his life understanding his means for his actions, the suffering he has experienced and eventually the lonely old man he has become. I felt the piece was highly inspirational as a documentary as it was quite long yet captivating and offered a clear message that a life of crime has not been all that rewarding for Peter Scott.
Watching a short film by a young student and seeing how it has been marketted at a European film festival has made me want to push on to create my short film in a way which will follow conventions of my chosen genre which will captivate an audience through its sequencing and how the audience is taken on a journey by the positioning of scenes. This will be created in the editing stages.

A2 Project Introduction

For my A2 media project, i have been presented with the task to create a short film. This film must reflect a professional standard by following typical film conventions specifically concerning the genre. To create this film i will need to spend a large amount of time studying short film's and the way in which they convey their personal message as well as then taking time to plan and construct the piece i will film. My blog will display the progress i have made throughout the planning process and offer reflective comments on improvements in order to further my work and produce an impressive final project.

I already have a personal view to create a film of the horror genre as after being told about this unit, these were my initial thoughts. This is my favourite genre of film and i believe that i know quite a lot about the structure of these films already and with much extensive research i will be able to further develop my knowledge.

Short Film Evaluation (Magazine Article)

This is the first part of our evaluation answering two vital questions set allowing us as directors and producers of our short films to analyse our own work in depth. This article is set for a film magazine letting you know about new and upcoming films.  

Short Film Evaluation (Radio Interview part 2)

Short Film Evaluation (Radio Interview part 1)

After being posed with the task of creating an evaluation and analysis of our short film our group decided to do this in two halves. The first part is two audio clips with the first one seen below. These two audio clips answer two main questions about our short film through a two part radio interview.