Brief Research - Short Film

The second brief I am interested in is:

• A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options

          - A poster for the film
          - A radio trailer for the film
          - A film magazine review page featuring the film

As I only knew of one short film before I started my research stage I began by using YouTube to find a variety of different films. That meant I could start to specify my research towards the types of short film I wanted to create. A few examples of short films I found include:

 Awake
Analysis:
 - There was a good variation in the camera angles and shots used which helped make the film effective. It allowed the film to stay secretive and withhold enough information from the audience to keep them drawn in.
- The Foley sound used in the film help to make it realistic however, I should not be able to tell it was Foley sound. I know it was Foley because the sound of the young man walking on the pavement was the same sound as the young man walking on the pebble beach.
- Finally, although I understand that short stories have to have brief story lines I felt that the whole film was confusing up until the last shot which may have lead the audience to lose interest and therefore switch off.

The Desk
Analysis:
- The main thing I liked in this short film is that they managed to create a story using very limited dialogue. There is some script when the protagonist listens to a voice mail and then again at the end however, most of the speech is shown through written communication which gives the film a magical aspect.
- I also like that the protagonist is  relatable even though we know very little about him, his story is not built up and still I feel we know him very well.
- I like that the short film wasn't a horror/thriller. Many short films are scary genres as it is an easy way to attract the audience however this film was more a romance but still managed to capture me.

Bed Trick
- Overall I found this short film very strange!! However, it had some good technical aspects and will help me in my decision making process.
- I liked the twist in the film. Although I feel the audience got the sense that something was being held back the whole way through the film I think the ending of the film was very unexpected.
- I think the setting, costumes and characters worked very well in helping to set the mood of the film.
- Finally, I think the reaction Rachel ruined the reality of the film a little because I don't think someone would react that casually in that situation.

After watching the short films I made notes on what I thought of them and used the points to research this brief further.

I also looked at previous A2 work that had used this brief to help further my knowledge; some films include:
Twenty Pounds, Hell is Round the Corner and Never Judge a Book

Although this brief sound very fun and really interests me I don't think it will be the one I choose. If I was to make a short film I would want to move away from the generic horror genre they have. I feel it is very easy to make a scary short film look generic; although, I feel 'Never Judge a Book' was an extremely good attempt and definitely scared me. Therefore, for me I think it would be very hard to create a good short story that attracts my audience as I feel it will be hard to draw an audience into a film in such a short time without doing so through suspense.

If I were to chose this brief I may use 'The Desk' as my starting block and inspiration.