Distribution

Baba Yangu is an original film with a theme of documentary mixed with drama that has not been used many times before. This aspect could enhance the success of our piece as it could be seen as a groundbreaking, unique creation that explores relatable issues with a controversial twist that gets people talking and thinking about this issue. On the other hand the documentary aspect of our film could hinder the categories and competitions it could fit into as it is not one clearly defined genre and it cannot be clearly categorized.

From the research I have done there are a few short film production companies that I believe would be interested in our film. The first would be Coffee Shorts as from my previous research of the films they showcase, I have seen that documentary is a clear genre that they are keen in. Also from watching one documentary on this site called “Your mummy kills animals” I have seen that Coffee Shorts is a company that is not afraid to explore controversial topics. Coffee Shorts are also interested in drama that is relatable and interesting, which is what our film is all about. Therefore Baba Yangu would be accepted fully by Coffee Shorts.

A film festival that we would send our short film to would be Exposures. This is because it is seen as the UKs leading student film festival that take a large range of genres including drama and documentary. The deadline for entries to this competition this year is July 31^st which means that we will be able to enter our film as soon as possible.

This is a screen shot proving we have started filling out the Exposures submission form.

We also uploaded our film on social networking sites that we use regularly such as Facebook, Vimeo and Youtube. We asked friends and colleagues to comment and let us know their feedback. Alot of it was positive and many people agreed and enjoyed the film and the views expressed throughout it.

This is a screen print proving our film was uploaded on Facebook.

This is a screen print proving our film has been distributed on Vimeo.

Our film was also submitted onto the BBC Film Network. I filled out the submission form leaving a short description and synopsis of “My

Father (Baba Yangu)”. After this was all done and I had created a profile on the BBC Film Network, the next steps to this process is to print off and sign the contract and send a copy of our film to the address given.

These are a few screen prints proving that we submitted our film to the BBC Film Network.

Audience

Our short film targets our audience as, firstly, the topic of the whole film being about fatherhood which is a topic that every person may have an opinion or view on. It is also a relatable subject to an audience of any gender, age, ethnicity or class. We also tried to engage the audience through using younger actors and actresses as we know that the short film audience is a niche audience and younger people tend to discover and watch more short films through social networking sites and convergence, as this is the more technology literate generation.

Also through our editing pace we looked to engage our younger audience and keep them interested. For example when we edited our documentary style interviews we used the jump cut technique to get all the necessary information we wanted to include. This could have also made the audience concentrate on what was being said if they noticed the sudden jump. However this could have confused some viewers. For example, through our questionnaires one comment stated that this effect “worked well but seemed unprofessional.” Another stated that “it worked well but they initially thought something was wrong and that this style was not intended.”

I learnt a lot from the audience feedback that we as a group might not have noticed, being so involved in our piece. The audience all agreed that the scripting of our piece was realistic, relatable and believable, which is the effect we were aiming for. I also learnt that this audience did not see an issue with representation but rather, the majority thought it was well represented. Some comments we got to support this view were “It shows both sides”, “You have an interview with both a father and a mother to be” and “It is represented well”. On the other hand some people did believe we could have improved our representation. A comment we got to support his view would be “Dads often don’t get heard”.

Our use of facts and the definition of “father” were also appreciated as the audience feedback stated that it made the piece more understandable and clearly stated what the film was about. I believe that these facts also helped enlighten our audience on some facts or information they may have not known before which shows the success of our film as it is meant to be an entertaining and informative piece.

The music in our film worked well as it set the tone of the piece without influencing the audiences’ perception or emotions towards the piece. I believe that music helps engage any audience in any film and the fact that we composed the music for the beginning of the piece and the music at the end of the piece was composed by one of our class mates through our vision and input of what we wanted it to sound like, made the music unique and original whilst being different from any other film soundtrack.

Looking back at the audience feedback and all the comments and results we have gathered proves to me that our film is strong and we achieved our goal of exploring a relatable issue to everyone whilst conveying many varied views and opinions on the topic in order to engage an even larger audience. I am very pleased that the audience found our scripting understandable and relatable and the fact that the stylistic theme of documentary and drama was appreciated and not immediately dismissed by our younger audience.

Completed short fim - Baba Yangu

Baba Yangu DV-Vimeo Settings HD from BDC on Vimeo.

Influences

We did gain some influences from some of the films we looked at such as “About a girl” by Brian Percival and “10 Minutes” by Ahmed Imamovic. From “About a girl” we took the idea of the character reciting their monologue into the camera as if the camera is an omniscient character listening to this monologue. We also were influenced to not use any music over our character monologues from "About a girl" as we realised this made the monologues more dramatic, natural and realistic. Our location choices could also be seen as influenced by this film too, as in "About a girl" the locations the character is reciting her monologue are all very issolated, quite places, which is the same for a few of our monologues. Editing wise we noticed how effective the fast jump cuts were in this film too and how fluid transitions would not be as effective. This gave us an idea of the technical aspects that worked well when exploring controversial and serious issues.

The influence we gained from “10 Minutes” was the tracking shots we included in our film. What we liked about the tracking shots we saw in “10 Minutes” were that they were not the typical, smooth tracking shots used in most films but rather shaky and jumpy which made the camera more of a character. These tracking shots also made the film much more interesting as they allowed our shots to be less static and engaged the audience as they had to concentrate a bit more to follow the narrative.

Our other influences were just life and the issues we believe need to be explored in every day life. That is how we came up with the topic of fatherhood. This is as this is a topic that every one can relate to and has an understanding about.

10 Minutes - An influence!

Completed short film reflection!

Reflecting on our final short film I believe it was a success. The merge between drama and documentary worked well to interest and engage the audience. Looking back at our class feedback I noticed that although the audience seemed a little confused with the mix between drama and documentary it interested them in the narrative and made them ask questions.

The locations we used in our short film were chosen as we believed they would be aesthetically pleasing. This is because we chose areas that had bright and colourful graffiti which we believed contrasted with our characters monologues but still made them more interesting.
We had some gritty, urban looking locations as we wanted a simple location that would not distract the audience from the emotion and message of the monologues. However maybe our choice for this location overlooked a few factors. For example one audience believed that this location aimed to represent our characters and target an urban audience which was not our main goal. Our main focus on this area was because it was a simple, accessible location that was quite enough for us to film.
The music we used at the beginning of the piece was simple and not too emotional as we did not want to influence the audience’s views or feelings on the piece but rather for them to come to their own conclusions about it. The music towards the end of the piece was slower and more emotional as it gave a more serious tone to the piece. I believe the music worked well as it kept the audience engaged by making the piece not as static as it could have been. Also with the opening titles, we edited the facts so that they would be cut to the beat adding some interest and rhythm to our piece.

We did have some technical difficulties during filming such as sound through the boom mic. This was as it was a windy day and the boom mic picked up the sound of the wind. This difficulty did affect the quality of our film and we did try and adjust it during editing. We managed to decrease the wind sound slightly but if we had adjusted it any more the monologue would not be loud enough to hear. To improve this we could have filmed on a less windy day or walked away from the wind and not against it, however we did the best we could and made sure that the monologue was still audible.

Our characters were all very successful as they were not over acting or over the top and they gave an accurate representation of the characters we wanted to convey. We wanted actors and actresses that would deliver the monologue effectively and so it would be believable to the audience, which I believe we achieved.

The scripting of our monologues was also very successful as it was realistic, informative and conveyed our message effectively. However as our characters were largely based on the talent we could get to play them the scripts had to be adjusted accordingly. For example with Matt’s character, I had to adjust the script so it would represent a younger character than we had first intended. Also with Ashley’s script a few changes had to be made because initially this character was meant to be male and older than the actress that was available.

There was a slight issue when it came to representation , which we may have failed to recognize during casting and filming. The issue was that there were not enough characters in our film to represent a wide ethnic range. This was because we had very little time to find people of many different ethnic backgrounds who were able and willing to feature in our film. If we had more time and a budget to cast talent we could improve this because the people would be available with the right skills.
All in all I believe this project has taught me a lot about my skills and strengths whilst also enlightening me on my weaknesses and what I need to improve on. I learnt that my script writing skills are one of my strengths as our audience all agreed that this was a strong point of our film because the script was simple but relatable. This project also gave me the opportunity to be more involved in planning such as storyboarding and casting which I enjoy and believe I am always successful in, however I have learnt about the impact representation and stereotypes can have on an audience therefore in future I will give this more thought. Also if we had more time we could have improved our film by casting a few more professional actresses .

Ashley's Final Script

Twenty-year-old Ashley is walking down the road speaking to the camera about her absent father childhood and her fears that her boyfriend will be the same with their unborn child. She is an intelligent young woman and is seen wearing a casual outfit of jeans, shirt and a jumper.

ASHLEY

(TURNING TO LOOK AT THE CAMERA)

You see with my child I don’t want their dad to miss a second of their life, I mean what’s worse, the fact that I know my dad and he hasn’t even taken a minute to get to know me or that I sometimes wish I never knew he existed? At best I should be grateful that I know who he is. How many people in this world never get to know a part of where they come from?

I’ve never been this scared in my life. I’m about to bring a child into this world, but I’ve always vowed I would do it the right way. I grew up without my dad, and don’t get me wrong I didn’t turn out so bad but it was a hard life. I don’t think I could be a single mother, I just don’t think that’s a proper family.

But looking at my situation I have a decision to make. I could get rid of my baby and try and save the “relationship” I have with my boyfriend or stay true to myself and have this baby, but that means I have to give up my beliefs and values of the perfect family.

Matts Final Script

Matt is walking down the road delivering his lines about his relationship with his ex-girlfriend.
Brick lane.

MATT

(HOLDING A SMALL TEDDY BEAR)

I tried everything I could to be a better father. See I know the importance of having a father figure to look up to and I had to learn the hard way. I had to go through my childhood feeling unaccepted and unappreciated by the one man I admired. Now my little boy means everything to me. I never thought I could have this much love for anyone, but he’s my life
She took everything away from me in a flicker of an eye said she didn’t love me anymore and can’t stand me and now I can’t even see my own son.

“…. incapable of providing”

That was what the court ruled, now my situation has changed but Maria finds it fit to turn him against me. All I want is a relationship with him, move away from what I had when I was growing up at least stay true to myself, I always said I never wanted to be a father like the one I had, but the chance I had to prove that was taken away from me.

Editing

During editing our main goal was to clearly define the difference between our acted footage and our interviews. We had initially planned to use transitions between these two extracts such as cross dissolve or edit the footage itself such as convert it to black and white or de saturate it. After trying this method and not being too pleased with the results we then decided to simply brighten our footage and make the interview extracts glitch when necessary. This glitch technique added to the realism and grittiness of our piece whilst also allowing us to cut out the unnecessary information.

Whilst editing we also had to make sure the sound levels were consist ant throughout the piece which was difficult as the footage was shot in different locations. With the outdoor footage we had to adjust the levels when the wind was high and also adjust traffic noises whilst still making sure the characters dialogue could be heard clearly.

Another task during the editing process that we were faced with was to incorporate music to the opening and ending that was suitable to the topic and tone of our piece. We decided to have a drum like African style music at the beginning to relate to the African title “Baba Yangu”. This worked well as it set a neutral tone for the start and we also managed to cut the facts that we have at the start and the title to all appear on the beat which shows our very careful and detailed editing skills.

Filming

During the filming of Baba Yangu we initially planned to film in Brick Lane as this was an urban area that reflected our youthful target audience and gave the piece a colourful grittiness with all the graffiti available. To shoot in this area we were required to get permission from the council which proved difficult at first as permission was needed from college but we eventually sorted this problem out by getting into contact with the finance department at college.

When filming we had difficulty figuring out how to do the tracking shots whilst walking backwards as this was the first time we had ever used this technique. We managed to get smooth enough shots that added to the realistic, gritty tone of our piece and convey the characters dialogue effectively and realistically.

Another problem we encountered was unreliable actors and interviews which caused problems when it came to editing and handing equipment in. This is because we had footage that still needed to be filmed. To solve this problem we had to take out a DV camera to film our missing footage thus having to down convert all our footage and our whole project down to DV.

Character Costumes

The costumes that the characters will be seen in are to establish the characteristics, roles and attitudes of these characters to our target audience. The costumes will also be clothing that the audience can relate to therefore they will not be expensive designer clothing.

Ashley's costume
As Ashley is a university student studying Geology, his clothing will be casual but still smart to show he is serious abbot his studies and serious about his goals and ambitions. Therefore he will be dressed in a casual shirt and jeans. To give the professional impression he will be wearing a smart coat and scarf to emphasise his serious characterisation.


Ruby's costume
Ruby's costume will be quite girly and feminine. It will portray her girlish attitude and her slight naivety. She will be seen in a flowery dress with tights because of the cold weather. She will also have a coat which will emphasise her good up bringing and how she takes care of herself. Her costume will be of bright feminine colours such as pinks, yellows, blues and so on.


Mat ts costume
Matt is the oldest character therefore his costume will convey his maturity. He will wear darker more neutral colours than the other characters. His costume will be casual showing his love for his children and how he is always ready for the life of a father, He will be seen wearing casual jeans, a casual t shirt, casual coat and casual shoes. Basically he will have a casual costume.

Roles and responsibilities

• Storyboard – Rory = Writing Up
Alana = Drawing Up

• Location details – Rory = Taking photos of Brick Lane/ Risk assesment
Maureen = Getting in contact with council
Alana = Reason for locations
• Actors - Rory and Maureen = Susan – Miss Palmerton’s friend
• Ashley = Chris
• Matt = Matthew
• Ruby = Rosa
• Release forms – Alana

• Props – Pram = Susan
 Bag/ boos (student) = Ashley
 Picture of dad = Ruby = Alana
 Cuddly toy = Matt

• Interviews – Father for justice = Rory
Mother = Rory/Alana/Maureen
Young person = Alana

• Presentation – Rory = Putting it all together
o Include – videos showing our stylistic technique – Jay z - Girls
Q Tip – Getting up
 Results from vox pops and questionnaire
 Character profiles
 Narrative outline
 Locations
 Storyboard
 Props
 Funding
 Target audience

Ruby's Script

I’m what they like to call a daddy’s girl. I love my dad to bits. He is actually the greatest man in the world. I hear all my friends talking about how their dad was never there and how some of them never even knew who their fathers were.

I could never imagine what life would be like without my daddy. He inspires me, comforts me and always gives me the confidence I need.

Lately though, all my relationships have been failing on me. None of these boys seem to understand my situation. I’m looking for my daddy’s love in them, but the only man who could give me that love died of cancer 2 years ago today. I don’t see how I can live without my daddy’s love.

Short Film planning - Locations

This short film will focus on 4 main characters all seen making their way to a certain place. These characters will not be intertwined and will not be related in the narrative of the film; however they will all be seen in the same location. For instance the camera will firstly focus on one main character as they tell their part of the narrative (as if talking to a friend whom the camera represents). The camera will then drift away from this character and onto another that walks past in this same location as the filming motif is repeated.

Considering this information and this style of filming we will need a very controlled, isolated environment that will make it easier to ensure continuity in our piece. We have chosen to use Brick Lane as our location as it is a central location to the crew and is easy to get to for all of us. Also the fact that there are many roads linked to each other this will be a good location for our characters to be able to walk past each other as complete strangers.

Also Brick Lane is an ideal location for our film as if we shoot between 10 am and 1 pm whilst people are at work, this area will be reasonably secluded. This will allow for easier crowd control and less risks and hazards.

This location is also quite urban and gritty looking which is ideal for our short film as it establishes the characters lifestyle and social situations. This will help set the realistic and serious tone to our film which our target audience will also find relatable and a place they can identify with.

Short Film Planning - Props required

This film is quite a simplistic piece therefore not many props will be required. We will however have at least one prop for each character which will help establish and develop that certain characters role, story and characteristics.

Susan’s prop

Susan’s character will have a pram as a prop. This will be used to establish her yearning for a child. She will be seen pushing an empty pram down the road emphasising her emptiness and lack of trust in men. The pram will also symbolise her psychological situation in the fact that she has been traumatised by her fatherless past.


Ashley’s prop

Ashley’s character will have a bag and school books as his prop showing he is a student. These props will help establish his situation and make his role as “the student who is about to become a father” clearer. We will see Ashley walking down the road holding his books and carrying his bag. These props will also make Ashley’s character more relatable to our target audience which ranges from 16 to 25 years of age as the target audience can relate to education and what this character may be experiencing in his life at this time with university work, his social life and family.

Ruby’s prop

Ruby is the typical “daddy’s girl” therefore her prop will be a picture of her dad or a picture of her and her dad. This prop establishes that she admires her father and is proud of him. The picture could be seen in her wallet as she gets out her money to pay for something, on her phone as her screen saver or in a locket.

Matt’s prop

Matt is a father who would like to be closer to his child but is kept away. To emphasie his character his prop will be a cuddly toy showing his sensitive side and how he wants to be able to give his child everything they need. He will be seen walking down the road holding the toy showing that his child is always on his mind and a big factor in his life.

Presentation of Inspiration week ideas

We then had to present two of our best ideas. We presented the Mr Tambourine Man idea and the Dirty Money idea. With the Mr Tambourine Man idea we discovered that it was too complex to be a short film as there was a lot of contextual information that the audience would need to understand beforehand to understand the film.

With the Dirty Money idea we were told that the idea of the narrative being told by the coins was original and interesting and that it could work as a short film as it was more straight forward than our first idea.

From this feedback I learnt that when generating ideas for our short film we have to be sure to make these ideas condensed and straight forward as the film is meant to be a documentation of a certain situation in one certain time.

Inspiration Day!

Song lyrics - Mr Tambourine Man

On this day we were put into our groups and given different stimuli to create ideas such as song lyrics, poems, news paper clips, art and pictures. Our first idea inspired by the song lyrics by Bob Dylan and Abba is titled Mr Tambourine Man. This idea focused on two central characters. One character is an average Joe, down on his luck living a depressing life. The other is an outcast angel trying to do his penance to get back into Heaven.

The idea of the film would focus on the Joe character being followed by the angel character wherever he goes, playing his tambourine. The disequilibrium of the film would be when Joe meets his lady friend and wants the angel to go away. After he gets his wish he realises he misses Mr Tambourine Man and wants him back.

The new equilibrium is that Joe gets a new Mr Tambourine man, who unfortunately cannot play as well as the old Tambourine man, and cannot play any of the songs Joe likes.

Second idea – Modern art

Our second idea was inspired by modern art. We looked at a picture of an empty table and chairs and another of a tent full of names of people that the artist had slept with. We came up with a film focusing on isolation, emptiness, child and domestic abuse and darkness as the white bulb in the picture of the table did not give off any light.
The film would focus on the names in the tent coming alive around the table as ghost like figures. Each of the names will have a story of abuse that has happened round the dining room table that will be acted out.

Third Idea – Newspaper

This idea focused one character of a one armed bandit and an emotional car crash. It would focus on the one armed bandit going around and robbing one of everything from all stores and his hatred of snow men.
It will then focus on this character running around and “murdering” all snow men he comes across.

Fourth Idea - Pictures

We then had to look at pictures and get an idea from them. We decided to make a film about interspecies relationships between a butterfly and a goldfish. It would be made in a butterfly on the wall style with the butterfly being Omni present and all seeing.

Fifth idea – Poetry – Dirty Money

Lastly we had to read poems and be inspired by them. We focused on a poem called Infidelities. We decided this film would focus on the perspective of the coins that the wife character collects from her unfaithful husband’s pockets and puts them on the window sill.

This film will show the guilt of “the coins collecting dust”. There will be shots of the wife cooking for her husband and footage of the happy couple that will be sped up emphasising lost times. The coins will be the only dialogue we hear. The film will end with the husband collecting all the coins and going to a phone box looking suspicious and weary.

Post Secret Activty - Class secrets!

The second activity was to write a secret down and pass it round the class. When you’ve received someone’s secret you have to write a synopsis of a short film for it. The secret I got was “I love popping other people’s puss spots.”

The synopsis

I’m on a mission to pop any spot in my sight. I don’t care who you are and weather or not you want me to. If I see it I’m popping it. Until… I notice I have one on my face. Who will pop it for me?
This will be a montage of a character walking up to random people and trying to pop their spots. There will be a close up of the characters looking in the mirror and then an extreme close up of the spot on their face. The film will end with the character on their knees screaming.

Post Secret Activity

In this activity we were given postcards with random secrets on them. We were then asked to write a synopsis on a short film for this secret. The secret I chose was “I am home less and no one (not even my family) knows about it.”

The synopsis

Tina is a teenage girl who hates her family. She leaves her house to go to college, meets her imaginary friend Jim and pretends she is Jacks girlfriend. She follows him home and hides outside his window pretending to be in his house. There is then a shot reverse shot and Tina is in Jacks house talking to him and behaving like his girlfriend but he doesn’t even realise she is there. The film ends with her looking behind him and noticing her and walking out of the door leaving her alone.

Folding Paper Game

Our first activity in Inspiration Week was to write a line each on a different piece of paper with prompts of what the line should be `about, for example “A mans name and his job.”. We then had to pass the piece of paper around and write another line on a different piece of paper. This is the narrative I ended up with.

His name is Barry, he is a bin man. Susan believes she is a fire truck. She is in fact a mental patient. The couple meet in a park because their dogs start fighting. They then drag them through the mud. “Do you want to take a ride on my horse?” And then a puddle of water appears on the floor, “Oh no! My waters broke.” They had 5 children and live in a forest.

The synopsis

Barry meets loony Susan one ordinary day of being a bin man and suddenly his whole life revolves around her and their bush babies. With Susan believing she’s a fire truck and Barry trying to support his newly found family and refugee wife who has just escaped from the mental home on his bin man wages what will happen when the millionaire Mindy comes into the picture?

Equilibrium = Barry picking up rubbish on a normal Monday morning when Susan drives up and beeps at him.

Disruption = Susan pretends to run Barry over which gives him the idea to ask her "Do you want to take a ride on my horse?" which she takes as a marriage proposal and gets pregnant.

New equilibrium = Barry is stuck with Susan and his five monkey children. Tom thinks he's an elephant and the other 4 believe they are mice.

Application of Levi Strauss

• Sanity vs Insanity
• Poverty vs Wealth

Structurelist Theorists

Tzvetan Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potential opposing forces are in balance. This is then disrupted by some event setting off a chain reaction of other events causing a different equilibrium or status quo. This is the form of the classic mainstream text.

Claude Levi –Strauss argued that all narratives and stories contained binary oppositions or a conflict between two qualities of pairs of differences to create meaning and convey moral messages. For example in Cinderella, there is Cinderella who is the good character who is opposed to her step mother and ugly step sisters who are the bad characters. This binary opposition creates a moral message that it will all end happily for the good character Cinderella as this is an aspect of fairytales.

Vladimir Propp argues that whatever the narrative difference in a film or story there are always eight character functions which are the villain, the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, the father, the dispatcher and the false hero. This indicates how inseparable characters and action are.

Example of the eight character groups in Disney’s Mulan

Villain - Shan Yu

Hero - Mulan
Donor - Mushu
Helper- Mushu
Princess - Mulan
Father - Her father
Dispatcher - The army
False Hero - Shang



Roland Bathes indentified the five codes of narrative which can be used to analyse the way in which a story is constructed. These are the action code, enigma code, semic code, referential code and symbolic code.

Short film Inspiration Week

Definition of story

· Structure
· Started with drawings on caves
· Can be fiction, fantasy, fairytale, horror, real life drama etc ...
· Characters
· “Once upon a time”
· Stories are used to educate and entertain from generation to generation
· Biblical stories- Bible = first book ever published
· Illustrations
· Poetry
· Greek mythology
· Folk tales used to warn and scare little children – Fables – Myths – Legends
· Can be any length

Narrative

· Stories we tell ourselves about ourselves
· Are referenced to culture
· Give us comfort

The distribution and exhibition of short film

Short films tend to reach a more niche audience as feature film took over back when Hollywood came about, therefore the mainstream audience are drawn to these films and don't really take much notice of short film. this fact makes the distribution and exhibition of short film harder than the distribution of feature films but not impossible.

Short films are exhibited in many ways. From festivals, specific short film channels to Internet sites and short film production companies. A lot of them are exhibited to showcase up and coming directors work, Some are exhibited as commercials for charities, products or political groups publicizing certain views or issues. Others are exhibited as music videos establishing artists showing their acting skills.

The distribution of short films takes place through festivals and exhibitions of these films. these films are also distributed through the Internet with sites such as YouTube, Coffee Shorts, Silver Films and many more. Convergence is also a reason that the distribution of short films is getting simpler. For example with the mobiles merging with the Internet in which users can watch and send these films anywhere at any time. Also with the Xbox and PS3 having the Internet these films can be distributed this way.

Short Film Textual Analysis - Greed

Greed is a short animated film that focuses on an individual character in a public looking toilet. The genre of this animation could be seen as drama but as it is animated and imaginative it is quite humorous too. "A superbly animated, clever and funny short film from Swedish character animator Alli Sadegiani. Through the simplest of plot lines, a single character, a single setting and a little comedy we see human greed laid bare for the idiotic and dangerous thing it is, something we all know is a part of us bubbling beneath the surface, that some keep in check and others fail to with disastrous implications for themselves and the people around them. "
http://www.blip.tv/file/1769725

The mise en scene of this animation conveys the imaginative creativity of the film. It also conveys the ideology and message of the film and why it is called Greed. For example the character is seen i a public toilet with graffiti all over the walls. This emphasises the poverty and ill morals of the character. The character is seen to be wearing nothing but a vest and underwear adding to the humour of the film and also to the theme of poverty. The lighting is high key and bright which allows the audience to see all of the action. This also creates tension as the audience understand from the ideology of the dramatic music that this is a dramatic piece, therefore the high key lighting gives the audience a false sense of security. The sounds in this film are exaggerated as is a common code and condition of drama. Sounds such as the characters heavy breathing,the characters screams, the money around the character dropping all over, a slow heartbeat and the terrifying scream at the end of the film all help convey the message of the film and create tension and interest for the audience throughout the film. Many dreary sound effects are also used to further emphasise the genres and the atmosphere created in the film.

The camera work also conveys the message of greed as we see many close ups of the characters facial expressions and fear. We also see closeups of the money around the character emphasising its importance in the film. There are also voyeuristic shots in this film that add to the tension of the film as it seems as if we are witnessing this characters pain and demise without him knowing.

Short Film Codes and Conventions

Short films have been seen as experimental and low budget ways to create creative unique little pieces of work since the early 50s. As short film had to make its mark in the film industry as Avant Garde and experimental after being dominated by the introduction of Hollywood, there has never really been any specific codes and conventions except that the film must be short (under an hour).

Short films are made in many different genres therefore different genres will have different codes and conventions, for example drama has codes and conventions such as exaggerated sounds, close ups, eerie silences and dramatic music and documentary have codes and conventions such as an interviewer asking questions, mid shots used when filming interviewees and relative music to the topic of the documentary. But short film as an art has no specific codes and conventions.

Short Film Production company - Silver Film Productions

"We’re Silver Films, founded in 1996 by producer Janey de Nordwall, with commercials director Richard Oliver joining in 2006.
Our work has always been noted for its high production value as well as its ability to touch an audience." http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/about

"Silver films not only create TV commercials but films too. Richard Oliver, the director of this company also focuses on Automotive.
Innovative films have a significant impact on the success of launching cars and concepts. These films need to generate desire in target audiences whilst also being versatile enough to be used across territories and mediums to achieve maximum return on investment.
BAFTA winning Silver Films has an impressive track record of producing the highest quality running footage and creative mood films for some of the most premium automotive brands. We pride ourselves on delivering films that exceed expectation on time and on budget." http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/automotive.

This company make films as advertisements, for example the commercials for Umbro and Toyota that they have created. One of the films created by this company "Garden with red roses" is now being used by a major charity to increase awareness showing how short films are used, exhibited and distributed in many ways.
"We love making films and telling stories. It’s our passion and over the last ten years we have produced five award winning shorts including the BAFTA winning About a Girl. Our latest short, Gardens With Red Roses, is currently on the international festival circuit and being used by a major charity to raise awareness.
We believe that a short film can now become a powerful marketing tool for charities; helping to raise funding and affect change as well as fulfilling criteria for socially responsible brands."
http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/films/shorts

For aspiring short film directors this company would be a good company to get in contact with to produce and exhibit work. On the site there is a phone number and email address for Janey de Nordwall so any one who wants this companies assistance can get into contact with them easily.

Short Film Directors

Two directors that interested me were Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv the directors of Strangers and Offside. They interested me because of their ability to captivate an audience with tension, drama and suspense whilst exploring issues of religion, culture and the divide that people experience through these aspects.

They are two young writer directors from Tel- Aviv Israel who graduated together from “Camera Obscurs Film School”. This explains the themes they explore through their films and why they direct together. They created Strangers, the short film in 2003 for 20th Century Fox, which got accepted into the Sundance film festival in 2004 and won the award for Best Short. Offside that they directed also won the award for Best Short in the Manhattan International Short Film Festival in 2006. Strangers went on to win many more awards such as the BAFTA LA Award for excellence at the Aspen Shorts fest, Buster’s Youth Jury Award at the Buster International Children’s Film festival, Wolgin Award – special mention at the Jerusalem Film Festival and Jury award at Palm Springs International Short Fest.

They have just finished writing their personal feature film “Son of God” which is the story of a 78 year old Holocaust survivor that goes on a “root journey” with his religious Jewish son to Poland in search of a magician.
Their film Offside also won many awards such as the Short Film Award at the German short Film Awards, the Grand Prize at the Manhattan Short Film Festival, the Jury Award at the Palm springs International Short Fest 2004 and the Reelworld award at Toronto Reelworld Film Festival.

Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv are inspirational award winning writer directors that utilise their views and culture as inspiration for their films. Not only do they specialise in short film but their short film Strangers was then expanded into a feature length film in 2007.

Filmography:

Moosh (2001)(short film)
The Little Prince (2001) (short documentary)
Mabul (2002) (short film)
Strangers (2003) (short film)
All well by me (2005) (feature documentary)
Offside (2006) (short film)
Strangers (2007) (feature film)

Film Festivals

Raindance
This Film Festival is a worldwide, western film festival accepting work from New York, Canada and London, just to name a few countries. This festival runs from the 6th to the 7th of February. This festival was founded in 1991 and becoming a member of the festival will cost anyone interested £50.

Submitting your films to this festival is done through another website called Withoutabox.com were you can fill in an application form and leave a hard copy of your film and a digital press kit.

The only submission limitation is that the work being entered must not have been screened on the internet. Raindance take a wide range of genres of work from comedy to drama and many more.

Some of the awards they offer are

· Best UK Feature
· Best International feature
· Best Debut Feature
· Best Documentary
· Best Micro budget Feature
· Best UK Short
· Best International Short

Encounters
Submissions for this festival open on the 1st of April 2010. And previously ran from the 17th to the 21st of November 2001 in Bristol. This festival take work form comedies, dramas, animations and music videos from 58 different countries showing it is quite an established festival that represents the UK.

Encounters is actually the umbrella title of two of the UKs leading film festivals that have now combined .In 1995 this festival began as Brief Encounters. It was only meant to be a one off event celebrating the centenary of cinema but because of its success it carried on and is still running now as one of the world’s most respected celebration of short film. In 2001 Animated Encounters joined Encounters and became very successful, showcasing the productions, talent, creativity, technology and skills that make animation so popular. These two festivals joined in 2006 with record breaking success.

· Some of the awards this festival award are ...
· International Jury Award
· Best of British Award
· South West Jury Award
· UK Film Council Audience Award
· South West Screen Audience Award
· Online Audience Award
· Film Club Children’s Jury award Animation
· Film Club Teenage Jury award

To subscribe to this festival you need to sign up to the newsletter and create a profile.

Exposures
This is another film festival that is seen as the national and UKs leading student film festival. It runs from the 17th to the 19th of November and accepts a wide range of genre of films such as documentary, animation and drama.

To submit your work to this festival you will first need to read the rules and guidelines and then fill in an entry form on the Exposures website and then send it to the address listed on the site. These are a few of the rules and guidelines that need to be considered before entry.

Rules and Guidelines at a glance

• 
  To be eligible for entry work must have been produced whilst studying at a UK institution between August 2009 and July 2010 (detailed explanations can be found in the exposures 2010 Rules & Guidelines
• 
  Work can be of any genre, theme or type.
• 
  Work must be under 30 minutes long.
• 
  You must fill in one form per artwork submitted.
• 
  Films will not be accepted without a completed entry form.
• 
  Do not send your only copy or original.
• 
  Send your entries on DVD only, and make sure it works before you send it.
• 
  Make sure your work does not infringe any copyright – you must have permission for any music or images used.
• 
  Incomplete or invalid entries will not be returned.
• 
  Don’t forget to sign and date the entry form

http://www.exposuresfestival.co.uk/enter

History of short film

Hollywood and short film

Short film was actually the first type of film created, with Sortie de l'usine being created in 1896. Another example to illustrate this point would be the first British crime drama "Arrest of a pickpocket" directed by Birt Acres in 1895. This film lasted only 50 seconds and included three characters. (http://amazon.imdb.com/title/tt0187702/). These were the first films that people were able to create because of the technical restrictions and the lack of technology. this made these films very experimental and quirky.


However when Hollywood advanced and the creation of the classical narrative creating feature length films came about the short film industry decreased. Hollywood brought along with it genre production making the experimental themes of short film decrease too. The Hollywood studio system was also introduced making film making a lot more expensive and making it a lot harder for short films to be viewed and get publicity as cinema exhibitions required films to be 100 minutes.


As short film could not compete with Hollywood and mainstream cinema it found its way to its audience by becoming a form of art. this created the experimental, Avant Garde,, art house short films. A good example of an Avant Garde film would be Baraka (Ron Fricke, US, 1992—96 mins). Densely packed visual story of the evolution of Earth and humanity, and the manner in which human beings relate to the natural environment. Shot on location in 24 countries. No dialogue, only sounds and images—stream of consciousness. Beauty and grandeur of visuals make this definitely one for the big screen (shot with 70mm cameras). Some disturbing imagery, nudity. See Gianetti 163. Chris Hicks writes, "Taking his 70mm camera to 24 countries, cinematographer Ron Fricke has compiled an answer to Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi, on which Fricke was chief cameraman. That film, whose title is a Hopi word for "Life Out of Balance," contrasted the serene natural wonders of America with its hustling, bustling industry, without narration or plot, using only gorgeously photographed, fleeting images set to a driving, mesmerizing Philip Glass score. Fricke's Baraka — the title, an ancient Sufi word, loosely translates as 'The Breath of Life' — is apparently intended to counterbalance Reggio's work, showing how the human race and life itself are tied to the earth." Also considered a documentary. David B. Spalding writes: "Baraka begins and ends with supremely spiritual images and sounds. . . . the film is a glorious tone poem. . . . Baraka is a profound celebration of each culture's, each individuals, personal experience of our universe" (http://www.korova.com/kmr95/kmr5034.htm

Currently a lot has changed in the world of Hollywood and short film production. For example Hollywood no longer follows the studio system. It now looks at film as a low budget, opportunity for experimentation and innovation. Short film is also seen as a safe way to experiment and create original films without losing too much money. Studios have also found short films are good ways to scout undiscovered talent through short film festivals in which all this work is exhibited.


Short film then advanced further, especially in England, becoming British new wave also referred to as free cinema. this meant that these films had an experimental approach to sound, were funded by the BFI experimental film fund and featured working class people at work and in their society. For example in "We are the Lambeth Boys (1958)". This short film was filmed in the "fly on the wall" style and was the first time working class people were shown on T.V not regarding a crime.


There was also a lot of protest within free cinema as they protested to the dominance of the mainstream creating the British free cinema of the 50s which was filmed in documentary style. Most films in free cinema are short films as they are low budget and allow a lot of opportunity to be experimental.

Video activism also has a symbiotic relationship with short film as a lot of little film studios work has been done on the role of short film as an agent of social change. for example Green Peace, Amnesty International commissioned specialist subject short film to make people more aware of a topic or situation they deem important. There is a good example of a pressure group commissioning a short film director to create a short film to publicize their cause.

Short films on TV
in the 1960s to 70s TV did provide some minority viewing of short films scheduled into "filler" and late night slots. In 1999 BBC 2 series 10x10 in association with the BFI showcased short films and in 1991 the BBC launched Video Nation which was populist mass observation on the close up straight to camera. This influenced the video diary, reality TV online in 2001 and this is because video cameras became smaller and cheaper.


Now in the 21st century there are many changes to the way short films are broadcast. For example channel 4 has "Shooting Gallery", BBC has ?The Film Network" and there is also a channel dedicated solely to short films on the Internet which is Movieola (http://www.movieola.ca/). There is also a channel on Skys style and cultures subscription pack that broadcasts short films 24 hours per day. This channel broadcasts many different genres of film targeting 18 to 25 year olds.

"Shorts International has announced that it will launch ShortsTV on the Sky platform from November 26,targeting 18-25 year old viewers who currently watch shorts online.
The channel will show films of all genres, from comedy to thriller, each less than 30 minutes. ShortsTV launched on Numericable's cable systems in France, Belgium and Luxembourg in February 2007."

"Anytime, Sky's push video-on-demand service, and monthly comedy releases on Go!View, the joint venture between BSkyB and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe which allows owners to download and view video via their PSPs." This is a good example of how convergence is changing the distribution of all these short films.

http://www.screendaily.com/shorts-international-to-launch-short-film-channel-shortstv/4041792.article

Short film production companies- Coffee Shorts

Coffee Shorts is a website I found that specialises in advertising and screening independant short films they are given by friends and some they find on the internet. This site has many channels all showing different genres and short films by many aspiring directors. The channels that are available on this site are “Music Video”, “Documentary Film”, “Animated short film”, “Experimental film”. “Comedy shorts” and “Indie film trailers”.
“Coffee Shorts is an independent short film channel showing off exceptional work from some of our friends and discovered from surfing around the web.
We spread the films around a bunch of online channels for people to come across and hopefully spend a little time with, experiencing a world where the guy doesn't always get the girl, evil sometimes overcomes good and things generally don't follow the same weary scripts.
Every now and again we'll add something new and move the playlists around so drop back from time to time, enjoy your stay!

Steve PiperHead of Film” taken from http://www.coffeeshorts.co.uk/about.html

This site features and includes a range of interesting, proffesional standard short films, especially video activism work.

“Today it's time for a trailer to go with the DVD release of the powerful animal rights documentary Your Mommy Kills Animals. Commissioned to take a critical look at Peta the filmmakers were ultimately won over to the cause, producing a film fair in it's representation and warning of the extremes of either side of the argument. Widely praised for debunking the FBI's concern that Peta is more dangerous than Al Quaeda the film features a raft of celebrities (Jessica Biel, Katherine Heigl, Kaley Cuoco, Joss Stone and James Cromwell) as well as leaders of the animals movement such as Josh Harper and Kevin Kjonaas. A critically acclaimed independent film with 91% at Rotten Tomatoes it continues to cause controversy, sparking a courtroom battle when the political lobbyist funders finally saw it and the film getting pulled from DVD stores after pressure on major retailers from food industry lobbyists; you can still get a copy direct from distributors Halo-8 and check out the latest work from Curt Johnson's Indie Genius Productions on their Myspace.”

http://coffeeshorts.blogspot.com/2009/11/your-mommy-kills-animals-documentary.html

Short Film Funding by UK Film Council

Short Films are funded in many ways as aspiring directors who may not have the right financial resources to produce these films usually create them. Therefore these films have to be funded by bigger, established film organisations such as the UK Film Council. http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/shortfilms.

This organisation has many funding schemes such as the Short Films Completion Fund 2009/10, the Digital Shorts, fund, and the Cinema Extreme short film programme,

Bibliography

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrKnhOJ-R80
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpjHSiQLPmA&NR=1
3. http://ajiminnicoup.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/strangers-short-film/
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_filmhttp:/
5. /www.youtube.com/watch?v=4meeZifCVro
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-cFHeoXAw8
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYIxBRA5qjA&feature=related
8. http://allafrica.com/stories/200808040575.html
9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHZiGHhgRtY
10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2PwHAotOoc
11. http://www.mtv.com/search/video/?q=Anthony%20Mandler
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testify_(Common_song)
13. http://coffeeshorts.blogspot.com/2009/11/your-mommy-kills-animals-documentary.html
14. http://www.coffeeshorts.co.uk/about.html
15. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1142235/awards
16. http://fest.sfjff.org/film/biography?id=3921&last=Tadmor&first=Erez&role=Director
17. http://amazon.imdb.com/title/tt0187702/
18. http://www.screendaily.com/shorts-international-to-launch-short-film-channel-shortstv/4041792.article
19. http://www.silverfilms.co.uk/about

Testify by Common (9 minute short film)

• Directed by Anthony Mandler http://www.mtv.com/search/video/?q=Anthony%20Mandler
• 8:51 minutes
• An example of a music video which can be seen as a short film
• Genre: Hip Hop drama
• Codes and conventions: Exaggerated sounds eg) gun shots, court hammer banging, eerie music,

"'Testify' [...] features an intricate layering of vocals which provide such an hypnotic backdrop that you almost forget to listen to Common's compelling storytelling."[1] The song's story is about a woman who manipulates a judge and jury to find her partner guilty of a crime she committed. After the case is settled, she starts laughing and reveals that she is the criminal. Sean Malcolm of AllHipHop.com considers Common to have "paint[ed] pictures of extravagant court trials" on "Testify."[2] The song was a critical hit garnering a nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 48th Grammy Awards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testify_(Common_song)

Why women count

• An example of a short film that is made as a documentary type video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHZiGHhgRtY

Zimbabwean Short Films

Harare — PATSIMEREDU Edutainment - in conjunction with Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe - recently launched a short film on domestic violence.
The 30-minute production titled Mudiwa was launched at a hotel in the capital at a ceremony attended by women's organisations and the media.
Produced by former Waiters actor Jasen Mphepho, the short film chronicles the life of Sarudzai (Caroline Mashingaidze) who suffers emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her husband, Jephta (Nash Mphepho) and her in-laws because of alleged infertility.
Mphepho said Mudiwa is a film meant to address the growing problems of domestic violence within society despite provisions made available by the domestic violence law.
"We believe that a picture is worth a thousand words and we hope Mudiwa will go a long way in helping both men and women to desist from domestic violence," said Mphepho.
The film highlights how women can be their own oppressors of the family and community as shown by the character played by Sitshengisiwe Siziba, who as Jephta's aunt, encourages him to beat his wife Sarudzai to death.
It also exposes how due to socialisation, women advise each other to endure domestic violence for the sake of safeguarding their marriages and preserve their dignity.
Although men are depicted as the villains, Jephta's brother (George Tanjani) is sympathetic to Sarudzai's plight and unsuccessfully tries to stop his brother from abusing her.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200808040575.html
Harare — A ZIMBABWEAN short film Pamvura (At The Water) has been nominated for the Best Short Film awards at the 2007 Los Angeles Pan-African Film Festival (PAFF) to be held from February 8 to 19 in the United States.
The film was directed by the Women Filmmakers of Zimbabwe Production Skills Workshop

"Offside" short film

• Directed by Guy Nattiv and Erez Tadmor
• Genre: drama
• 5:46 minutes
• Focuses on racial divide in a military camp
• No dialogue makes audience focus more on characters facial expressions, body language and atmosphere created
• Codes and conventions: exaggerated sounds eg) radio, birds singing, guns clicking, gun shots, exaggerated silence creating tense, suspicious, engaging audience
• Narrative told through action of film correlating with the football match on the radio creating an intriguing original way to portray the plot to the audience
• 4 characters lets the audience focus more on the plot and action which is dragged out through the silences and breaks in the radio

"Replay" short film

• Created by Anthony Voisin, Zakaria Boumedlane etc...
• Animated French short film
• 8:45 minutes
• Genre: Drama
• Codes and conventions: exaggerated loud sons eg) beeping, deep breathing, banging doors, running feet, wind blowing,
• Close ups of important objects eg) satchel. tape recorder etc ...
• Slow, dreary, sympathetic music setting sad, tense atmosphere
• Animation and subtitles engage audience and create more interest
• Limited characters allow audience to focus more on the action and narrative of the film
• Characters and narrative is not just simply told to audience rather audience watch and come up with their own perception of the narrative message

"Lovefield" short film

• 5:29 minutes
• Director: Mathieu Ratthe
• Genre: drama
• Lack of dialogue interests audience and allows them to concentrate on the drama and action
• Codes and conventions: dramatic music and sfxs eg) phone beeping, woman screaming, knife being stabbed into ground
• Narrative is drawn out and the message at the end of the plot can not easily be perceived through the film creating suspense, tension and interest
• Crow used as a character depicting the main male character as the bad guy
• Symbols such as tattoo, music becoming more dramatic, man running away portray the male character as bad

History of short film

Short film is a technical description originally coined in the North American film industry in the early period of cinema. The description is now used almost interchangeably with short subject. Either term is often abbreviated to short (as a noun, e.g., "a short").
Although the North American definition generally refers to films between 20 and 40 minutes, the definition refers to much shorter films in Europe, Latin America and Australasia. In New Zealand, for instance, the description can be used to describe any film that has duration longer than one minute and shorter than 15 minutes. The North American definition also tends to focus much more on character whereas the European and Australasian forms tend to depend much more on visual drama and plot twists. In this way, the North American form can be understood to be a derivation of the feature film form, usually acting as a platform for aspirant Hollywood directors. Elsewhere, short films tend to work as showcases for cinematographers and commercial directors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_film

"Strangers" short film

• Directed, written and produced by Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv
• Cinematographer: Rami Agami
• Genre: Drama, social realism
• Codes and conventions: Dramatic sfxs and music eg) whispers, beating drums, foreign music establishing foreign setting, train screeching etc ...
• This film explores racial issues conveyed through symbols such as tattoos, newspaper text, chain with a Jewish symbol, Jewish ringtone.
• No dialogue makes it more interesting and captivating to the audience as it allows the audience to concentrate more on the action to understand the narrative
• No dialogue also makes the acting more convincing, realistic and dramatic
• Target audience is a male audience from 21 – 35 as the characters featured are of this age rage and gender. Also the views and situations explored in this film are more understood and relatable to this mature audience.
• “This is a short film, Strangers (2004), about the racial divide between Arabs and Jews and what brings them together. Like in the short film, I look forward to a new day when we all can transcend from the unfortunate divide to face a common enemy.” http://ajiminnicoup.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/strangers-short-film/

"Black Button" short film

• Director: Lucas Crandles
• Written by Lucas Crandles and Hayden Grubb
• D.O.P: Brian Walsh
• This short film is a dramatic thriller genre.
• Codes and conventions of this sf are dramatic, eerie sound effects and music creating tense atmosphere
• Too much dialogue bores the audience as it simply tells the narrative and does not allow audience to work to understand narrative.
• End of the film is twisted and unexpected with a message and ideology of morality and religion which is conveyed through the dialogue and the plain white setting.
• Acting is very dramatic and dialogue just makes the acting seem cheesy and over the top.
• Film is targeted to an older audience as characters and situations concerned and explored are best understood and relatable to an older audience.