Textual Analysis- Stranded

Stranded is a student made short film in which a group of friends are traveling by car for a camping trip when they breakdown in the middle of know. As they try and call for help an unknown threat is seen by the audience. 

I feel that the plot is a little hard to follow and the above is just my interpretation. In the short film we see the friends being caught one by one. But I'm left feeling that one of the friends, Megan, acts very odd towards the other character, Jessica, or I think those are the correct characters names as one of the name shouts is hard to hear/understand. Megan says to Jessica that the noises were "nothing" and when getting back to the car being the only one left she sits in the drivers seat as if it was planned. The killer is seen in the back of the car but they then drive off. In my opinion the plot can have two meanings that they are all in danger or that Megan is the one behind it all? This is one of the major issues as its hard to follow and understand although sometimes can be more interesting for some audiences. 

Mise-en-scene
The film is set in the countryside in an attempt to make the characters cut of and isolated, a very typical and well used convention of the horror genre. However this does fail slightly because when looking closely to examine the short film I could see some houses and farmland along with direction signposts and road signs causing a slightly unbelievable plot if you notice this. The three girls are dressed in casual clothing to make their characters relatable and believable for the audience which has a positive impact. 
The biggest issue I find and other people who have watched the short film have noticed is the actors are not very believable. They come across as non rehearsed and very poor camera presence. This means that the overall effect is ruined as its not very believable. They sometimes might look at the camera and make mistakes. 


Sound
Most of the sound featured in this film is diegetic as dialogue, the sound of the car and general ambient noise like wind etc captured by the camera they were using for filming. However at both the beginning and end feature two non-diegetic soundtracks, which in my opinion is not relevant relevant to the film making it seem out of place. The only way I can argue this is they have used a song featuring the name "Stranded" which links with the film and films a boring opening to the film so the audience aren't bored straight away. 
I feel the largest issue of all as mentioned that you can tell/hear the sound was recorded with a built in microphone on a camera or phone, meaning the audio is mostly poor quality; especially outside when its exposed to the wind the audio becomes distorted. There is very little attempt to correct these issues as the volume of audio jumps about meaning some dialogue is very low and then some loud. 

Editing
The editing used is very basic with very random cutting and odd clip lengths. There are some fades used in sometimes correct places which make sense. The editing seems rushed in my opinion although I do notice that have tried to attempt fast and slow paced editing to change how the audience reacts and feels. I believe this has worked as it is noticeable when the killer strikes. One of my small issues is the first thing on screen. When the film starts there is text showing film production names etc. And straight away I believe there is a mistake. I believe the title is supposed to say "Worldclass Films Presents" although it reads "Wordlclass Films Presents". I think this is a mistake and leaves the audience questioning the accuracy of the short film before its even begun. This is a big point that you should always check everything twice before publishing it.


Camera work
Most camera angles are good with a short range used and normally handheld, allowing the shot to adapt and change focus in a single take. It also places you in the scene making for a more real and believable storyline. This genre in particular adopts this style of filming heavily as it helps keep up the tension in scenes and creates a heightened atmosphere. But the handheld shots in this film are often to shaky, making them hard to focus on and giving a negative effect overall. The short variety of camera angles in the film results in a rather monotone mix of close-ups, long shots and medium shots. A tripod has been used rarely and fails to achieve any smooth panning or tilting.

Textual Analysis- Networked

Textual Analysis- Get off my land

Textual Analysis- Love me or leave me alone

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004ph1v

 

Love me or leave me alone was directed and written by Duane Hopkins and produced by Samm Haillay. Created in 2003, the plot consists of two teenagers in a relationship, in a small rural village.The film explores the two young people understanding how to express their feelings for one another. A study of the limits and emotions of first love. Love me or leave me alone was funded by FilmFour and the UK Film Council. The film has won Best Short Film award at the Edinburgh Short Film Festival and was nominated by Best British Short at the BIFA awards in 2004.

Love me or leave me alone depicts an average teenage relationship between a boy and girl. The short delves into the hormonal rage of puberty that teenagers experience through how the two characters treat each other. The short begins with the boy and girl arguing on what seems to be a school football field, evoking the teenage age of the two characters due to the location being linked to education. In a medium shot a boy spits onto a girls face. The girl reacts by shouting at the boy and pushing him in medium shot also. The girl then walks away from the teenage boy to a shelter. The short then cuts to a wide shot communicating the sudden distance the two characters have made between each other.

Textual Analysis- My Beast Friend

What are the pros and cons in creating a short film in comparision to a feature film?

Pros:

• Within the shorter time period the film maker must express their creativity. Meaning any storyline can be created and normally means more interesting storylines are created.
• Many short film makers make bolder short films to express any of their thoughts or storylines no matter how extreme because they are have less to lose. Whereas feature films must appeal to the audience in order to make the huge profits to cover their production costs. 
• Short films can be a up to 40 minutes long so they have to fit the storyline in their time limit and cannot overcomplicate they storyline. This means they can sometimes be simplistic and very effective to avoid  confusing the audience, where feature films can go wrong. 

Cons:

• Short films not normally as popular as feature films as they lack marketing and appeal to wider audiences  meaning only through online social networks, online video services or some film festivals attempt to show these. 
• Normally some of the best short films aren't recognised only as they do not have the money to spend on marketing and advertisement. 
• The limited amount of time can mean short films are limited and harder to understand as the film maker try to cram in the storyline and means the audience simply cannot understand it.

How has the short film market benefitted from digital technologies?

As digital technologies have continued to develop and become more and more commercially available it’s much easier for amateur film makers, independent studios and even professional film makers to create high quality short films.

Mostly, technology packages can be expensive, meaning that professional suites like Adobe can be hundreds of pound, although now, free programs that come pre-installed on your home computer like iMovie and Windows Movie Maker means that anyone can have a crack at creating short films. Other equipment such as cameras and accessories are available cheaply with a starter pack costing only £50. This means for an amateur they can really easily start making films with a simple set of equipment and then go on to upgrade their equipment as their skills develop.

As I mentioned, professional technology such as DSLR cameras and professional software is very expensive but does help to improve films and in my opinion, without the HD cameras and endless editing possibilities short films would not be as high quality as they are now.

Its also very easy to share ideas and productions now as social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are quick and free ways of sharing your creations meaning you do not have to pay for advertisement, unless you require professional marketing. Also, video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, mean that you can upload any types of videos including short films can be uploaded for free and shared with anyone. This means you can share your short film with anyone across the world very easily.    

Who is the short film markets audience?

The short film industry has it’s own target audience being a very small amount of people. Before this project I didnt watch any short films but now I enjoy them just as much as normal feature length films. 

A lot of people like myself may not come across short films very often there is a niche audience of mostly film makers and fans of independent films who follow the industry and sometimes a specific producer. With this in mind short films do not entice the majority of the population and so my target audience has already been reduced to audiences who enjoy independent productions.

I would say that my the main target audience itself includes mature teenagers and adults. This is because most younger audiences prefer to watch a longer film where the story line is stretched out over time meaning its normally easier to understand. We know that younger people always question why things are happening meaning in a short film the story line has to be fast and normally is harder to interpret and understand making it less of an overall viewing experience for that audience. Although in some instances there are short films specifically for young children, these sometimes are released after or before the release of a large film to keep viewers engaged and encourage interest in the film. An example of this is Toy Story 3, a few months after its release, Disney and Pixar created and released "Toy Story Toons" which are short films that have a small extra plot that follows up from Toy Story 3. This is a good way to keep a viewer engaged in the plot and characters between films. "Toy Story Toons" could be classed as cartoons but they are also short films because they have the main elements of a short film, if not Toy Story still use this same method of releasing small mini films related to their main blockbusters like "Toy Story of Terror".

How are short films consumed?

The past decade has seen an explosion of video online. The rise of YouTube and sharing sites such as Vimeo means that, now, the humble short has a mainstream, global audience. A film that strikes a chord can be watched by hundreds of thousands, even millions of people, who will offer feedback and support and perhaps recommend it to their friends. Along with these popular websites there are many others that specialize in short films including Short Films (http://www.filmsshort.com/) and Short of the Week (http://www.shortoftheweek.com/).

Many film-makers still bank at the idea of putting their work on the internet, but the advantages are useful, even if it means forfeiting revenue to gain publicity. This is excellent to gain large audiences. The sheer volume of short films that can be watched for free online is a large advantage as its easy and no cost to the viewer, this means the film-maker gain lots of views and interest and become popular, although they wouldn't gain much revenue unless the amount of views are massive, which is when some websites such as YouTube pay the film-maker.

Inevitably, most popular and successful short films are seen at national, locally and international film festivals. These festivals include:

Europe

Name	City	Country
Amarcort Film Festival	Rimini	Italy
Izmir International Short Film Festival	Izmir	Turkey
Brussels Short Film Festival	Brussels	Belgium
Ibero-American Festival of Short films ABC (FIBABC)	Madrid	Spain
Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival	Bilbao	Spain
Castellincorto - short films competition at Castellinaria International Film Festival	Bellinzona	Switzerland
CineFringe Film Festival	Edinburgh	United Kingdom
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival	Clermont-Ferrand	France
Colchester Film Festival	Colchester	United Kingdom
Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival	Bristol	United Kingdom
L'Inconnu Festival	Paris	France
Ibero-American Festival of Short films ABC (FIBABC)	Madrid	Spain
Insight Film Festival	Manchester	United Kingdom
Oberhausen International Short Film Festival	Oberhausen	Germany
International student short-film festival of Cergy-Pontoise	Cergy-Pontoise	France
Kinemastik International Short Film Festival	Valletta	Malta
Porto7 Oporto International Short Film Festival	Porto	Portugal
Reggio Film Festival	Reggio Emilia	Italy
Tampere Film Festival	Tampere	Finland
Uppsala International Short Film Festival	Uppsala	Sweden
Vienna Independent Shorts	Vienna	Austria
WachOut!	Tetovo	Macedonia
Wiz-Art	Lviv	Ukraine
La Boca del Lobo International Short Film Festival	Madrid	Spain
ClujShorts - International Short Film Festival	Cluj-Napoca	Romania
Go Short - International Short Film Festival Nijmegen	Nijmegen	Netherlands

North America

Name	City	Country
24FPS International Short Film Festival	Abilene, Texas	United States
Action/Cut International Short Film Festival	Los Angeles, California	United States
Aspen Shortsfest	Aspen, Colorado	United States
Chicago International Reel Shorts Festival	Chicago	United States
Los Angeles International Short Film Festival	Los Angeles	United States
Macabre Faire Film Festival	Long Island	United States
Miami Short Film Festival	Miami	United States
Knickerbocker Film Festival	Albany, New York	United States
Palm Springs International Shortfest	Palm Springs	United States
Poppy Jasper International Short Film Festival	Morgan Hill	United States
CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival	Toronto	Canada
Reel Shorts Film Festival	Grande Prairie, Alberta	Canada
Rumschpringe International Short Film Festival	Lancaster, Pennsylvania	United States
Saguenay International Short film Festival	Saguenay, Quebec	Canada
Festival de Courts Métrages de Boucherville (Boucherville Short Film Festival)	Boucherville, Quebec	Canada
Indie Fest USA Int'l Film Festival	Garden Grove, California	United States
Indiana Short Film Festival	Danville, Indiana	United States

Comedy

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending (except the one below). One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies. Comedy, unlike other film genres, puts much more focus on individual stars, with many former stand-up comic transitioning to the film industry due to their popularity. While many comic films are lighthearted stories with no intent other than to amuse, others contain political or social commentary.

“The Black Hole” is a short film directed by Philip Sansom and Olly Williams created in 2008 is a british short comedy featuring the main character, a sleep-deprived office worker who accidentally discovers a black hole leading to greed getting the better of him.

NARRATIVE CONTEXT

A man waits at a printer at work to receive some items,  but the printer is faulty; he gives the printer a kick for encouragement, and is greeted by a printed image of a single, large black circle. Initially, the man thinks nothing of this, and ignores the sheet of paper – this is, until he places his cup down on the paper and it disappears into the black circle. Once this man is over his confusion and fascination of this strange object, he puts it to the test; after testing the ‘black hole’ on a vending machine to retrieve a free snickers bar, he unlocks a door and blutacs the piece of paper to a vault, and starts to steal heaps of money. However, after stealing a few batches the man climbs into the vault to obtain more money, but once he gets inside the paper with the black hole falls down – and the man is trapped in the vault. 

ENIGMA CODES

At the start of the short film, the question that is most likely running through the audience’s mind is “What is that sheet of paper and what is its purpose?“.  This is because the black hole is not clear at first, because the purpose is to create curiosity and to engage the viewer. Other questions that could be raised could include “What will the man do with the black hole?”, “Why is he stealing?”, “How will he get out of the vault?”.

HOW CHARACTERS ARE ESTABLISHED AND REPRESENTED

There is only one character in this short film, which is a male character. At the start of the sequence the audience can see that this man does not enjoy his job much, as the camera moves into a medium shot of his dull, unimpressed facial expression at the start, and himself heaving a heavy sigh. However, once he discovers the black hole his face lights upwith curiosity and excitement, considering it is an extreme change from his daily routine at work and how unusual this object is. The audience also learns that the character is quite greedy and selfish towards the end, considering that he uses the black hole to commit the crime of stealing money. The audience can see that he is a working man shown by his location and costume, and around the age of 30. His costume tells the audience that he works in a type of office-based job. 

LOCATIONS

This sequence is filmed in a workplace, most likely an office. The audience can recognise this as the man is dressed in a typical work uniform of a white shirt, tie and smart trousers. A large printer surrounded by desks and computers is also presented in the first few shots, which also tells the audience that this is a workplace or an office. Throughout the film the location does not change from this workplace, but varies in what room in the building the character is in.

EDITING TECHNIQUES AND THEIR EFFECTS

The most defined editing technique is the black hole itself, and how a sheet of paper is transformed into something that the man and objects can pass through. This then gives the effect that the piece of paper actually is a black hole which can allow things to pass through it. There are also several shots when the black hole first makes its appearance which there is a frame used that makes it seem as though the audience is looking through the other side of the black hole up at the man.

CAMERA TECHNIQUES AND THEIR EFFECTS

At the very start the camera quickly pans across the room towards the man, which establishes the location of the film so the audience can understand what his job is and what might happen in this film.

USE OF SOUND

At the start of this short film whenever the man goes near the black hole there is a non-diegetic mysterious noise, signifying that this object is mysterious and strange, and could possess some ‘powers’ or something as equally unusual. There is a lot of diegetic sound in the film which is produced from the surroundings in the office, including the loud printer at the start of the sequence. There is no dialogue in this sequence, considering that there is only one character presented so he does not have anyone to converse with.

ICONOGRAPHY

The black hole itself is iconic, as a 2D image of a circle coloured black indicates darkness and depth, like looking down into a well. 

GENRE CHARACTERISTICS

Comedy is the most prominent genre that is associated with this short film. This is shown by the character’s exaggerated facial expressions and movements, which also make up for the lack of dialogue, as well as when the character gets trapped at the end. There is also asupernatural or sci-fi element in this short film as a black hole is found in Space. 

INTENDED TARGET AUDIENCE AND SIGNIFIERS

Considering that the genre is comedy, the target audience is for anyone who likes comedy films/short films, but can also be anyone interested in an element of sci-fi, fantasy or the supernatural, considering the black hole. Since this man dislikes his job the audience can be widened to people who also dislike their jobs, possibly also people who are of the similar age and have a similar job.

FONT, COLOUR AND POSITIONING OF TITLES

There is only one title in this short film, which is the title itself – The Black Hole. This, conventionally, appears at the start. This title has a transition that makes it seem that the audience is entering a black hole (as shown below), evidently fitting well to the title and plot.

WHEN, WHERE AND HOW THE TITLES ARE PRESENTED IN RELATION TO THE ACTION

The title of the film The Black Hole is presented at the beginning of the short to show the audience what this film will be about.