10 Short films research - Kazumi

1. Bitch
Director: Dom Bridges
Released date: 2009

• continuity editing is used throughout the film to convey realism and to create naturalistic atmosphere in a supermarket.
• the main character seems a very normal person as it could be anyone and allows the viewer to relate to him.
• non-diegetic sound flows to diegetic sound, which becomes a background music in a supermarket. this kind of music is similar to the records. it sounds like a music for western film as well. because the atmosphere of the scenery and the music is so different, it creates mysterious. 
• this film is hybrid. however it might has a combination of comedy, drama and crime.
• the narrative of this film is linear, as the scene begins with a man shopping and ends with the man trapped at cash register. (chronological order)

Todorov's 5 stage:

Equilibrium - when the guy walks around the supermarket

Disruption - when the old lady starts to stare at the guy

Confrontation - when the old lady ask the guy to say 'bye mum' to her

Resolution - when the guy says 'bye mum' to the old lady

New Equilibrium - the guy has to pay for the old lady's grocery

The effect of using Todorov's theory is that it creates confusion to the viewer. If the scene begins with the old lady walking away, then the viewer could guess what happened to the guy. However, because the film begins with the man shopping in the supermarket, the viewer will not know what happens to the guy later on.

Also, because there is no introduction of the old lady (eg. cross cutting), we cannot guess anything about her.

Genre - hybrid (mix of comedy, crime and drama)

Low-key lighting

this shot is close up of the main character. the low key lighting is used to create realism in the supermarket. it seems like the lighting is quite bright in the middle of the frame but the edges are darker compare to the middle the frame. 

Focus pulling

As we can see clearly, the focus is only spotted on the man, surrounding of him is all blurred out. this enhances the main character or stands out the key object/character.

I like the way they combined the dramatic atmosphere with crime. This might be a technique we can use  in our film. We can apply thriller or horror convention to our film and ends with something different.

2. Surprise
Director: Ben Dodd
Released date: 2008 

• this film is linear as the events happen chronologically; the scene starts with man's death in a bathroom and ends with him shaving his bear (before dying). 
• the effect of playing it backward is to give the viewer as same feeling as the dead character's. or to create more mysterious.
• as the title called 'surprise', playing it backward gives the viewer 'surprise'. Even the slomo shows more details of each movement and that gives the viewer a feeling of being a detective. 
• the film is hybrid, as we can't tell what this film categorises. however, this film might be have a combination of thriller and romance.
• this film is in black and white so we guess that this film is suspense. (dark and no saturation)

What I like about this film is that the director did not use any cut, only used single shot. Even the single shot, he twisted his idea of revealing the scene in imaginative way, playing it backward and in slomo.

3. The Ellington Kid
Director: Dan Sully
Released date: 2012

• As the characters in this film are mostly teenagers, the target audience for this film seem to be teenagers or young adult.

• this film is revealed in chronological order as the past events being spoken in present while flashback technique.
• the slight slomo is used in the flashback scene as we can see the each movements clearly. this leaves the enhances on the moves
• by focusing so many times on the knifes gives action code -  the viewer would think that something is going to happen in the kebab shop
• Claude Levi-Strauss's theory might be used in this film; black and white (race), customer and staff, night and morning/afternoon, open and close, etc.

Binary opposition:

morning - night

 

white - black (race)

staff - customer

 open - close

 

I think wherever there is binary opposition in the film, the effects of it is that its strengthened the one of them. For example, by putting the morning scene next to the night scene, the night scene shows extreme struggle between the two. Having both two, the viewer can compare the difference in two. When one of the staffs flips the sign to 'close' and locks the door, there is a meaning of locking the guys out from somebody's disturbance in the shop. 





4. Colour Bleed
Director: Peter Szewczyk
Released date: 2011

• In the first scene, when the main character is spraying the wall, match on action is used to show what the main character is doing. 
• Most of the shots in this scene are close ups, as which is used to enhance the action of the main character. 
• The use of depth of field is used to focus both her hand and her paint. 
• Off screen diegetic sound is used to create that there is a school or a lot of children around the place where she is. 
• it is linear as the events happen chronologically
• Roland Barthes theory can be applied to this film. For example, the action code is used to involve us to the film. We know something is going to happen to the main character, when one of her hands gets darker and darker. 

Example of Action code

This film contains realistic characters and settings. The genre of it is hybrid, as we cannot tell which categories to go in, even it has mix of fantasy and drama.

Low key lighting
the low key lighting is used in this film to create naturalistic atmosphere. the weather of the England is well recreated in this film as we can see the whole sequence looks quite dark and dim. This leaves a feeling of thriller or horror types of film as it is convention of thriller/horror.

Todorov's 5 stages:
1. Equilibrium - When she is spraying the wall

2. Disruption - when the old lady stamps onto her hand

3. Confrontation - when she pulls off her nail

4. Resolution - when its bleeds

5. New Equilibrium - when painted wall appears after her death

Although there are five of different stages in this film, there is same bird appearance in different scenes throughout this film. 

 

In all of above three images, we can see that they are in similar pose and colours. They bring peace and joy. We can tell that the bird is a symbol of peace or happiness because only the bird is coloured but everything else is dark and desaturated. I think Claude Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposition can be applied in this case, saturate and desaturate.

5. Two & Two
Director: Babak Anvari
Released date: 2010



(Narrative)

Todorov's 5 stage:

1. Equilibrium - students chatting in a classroom

2. Disruption - teacher says 2+2=5

3. Confrontation - one of the students correct his answer

4. Resolution - the student gets killed

5. New equilibrium

- other students write down the wrong answer on their notes

6. A Conversation Piece
Director: Joe Tunmer
Released date: 2009

• there are majority of close ups establishing their interior of their house. The first shot focuses on antique clock, then focuses on the other variety of antiques. The clock looks very analog and old. 
• From the lighting, we know the time is set in the morning because the colour looks quite cold and the clock showed eleven o’clock at the beginning. 
• A portrait picture of queen Elizabeth indicates them as English people. 
• The use of sound in this film is very interesting in a way of representation of gender. A high-pitched sound is used when the woman talks, while a low-pitched sound is used for the man’s talking. Everything else is gone silent, as the classic jazz music syncs to their lips and conversation. Although this classic jazz music is found somewhere, the representation of gender throughout is still stereotypical. As female normally has high voice and male has lower, this classic jazz music also fit to that typicality. The high-pitched trumpet sounds more aggressive compare to the low-pitched trumpet sounds calmer. The pace is also different on each ones; the high-pitched one sounds quicker than the low-pitched one. This represents a worries of the woman and calmness on the man. 

7. Lovefield

Director: Mathieu Ratthe
Released date: 2008

 
(Genre)

• We think that this film is horror, suspense or thriller film in the beginning. this is because there are few conventions of particular genre are used in the film. for example, a low-key lighting is used in the first scene, and it's in a field (rural), the viewer starts to worry about quietness and eeriness.
• sound of opening - enigma codes
• female crying & shouting / blood / shaky foot / dirts / sudden silence / blood on knife / blood over male's body - conventional in thriller/horror films
• Also, there is a crow cawing loudly. As everyone knows, crow cawing is usually about a bad sign, we think something is going to happen and starts to worry.
• this film is actually hybrid; it's a combination of thriller/horror and drama.
• lighting changes dramatically after the woman gave a birth - brighter/ambiance/saturate/no shadow
• music - orchestral

Claude Levi-Strauss's Binary Opposition:

dark & bright

serious & happy

old & young

8. Tune for Two
Director: Gunnar Järvstad
Released date: 2011

 
(Genre)

• the scene begins with male's feet dragging on the ground - conventional thriller films.
• use of low key lighting would also fit to the convention of thriller films.
• we think that this film is thriller film because we often see the body dragging when a person is near to death.
• this film is hybrid. it is a combination of comedy and thriller
• the narrative is linear as the events happen in chronological order 
• action code is used in this film when the villain puts his gun to the man's head

we often see this kind of scene in thriller film

Example of Action code

Representation
Both characters seems to be middle aged males. The social class of two is not obvious as their costumes are both similar and we are not able to hear them talking in this film. (they only sing)

Audience
I think the audience for this film is young adult males, as they are more interested in thriller films. I also think that comedy side of the film would appeal to the demographic as well.



9. Mr. Foley
Director: D.A.D.D.Y.
Released date: 2009

• there are both diegetic and non diegetic sound used in this film
• the whole film is about Foley so there are people creating sounds for patient's movements
• target audience for this film is older adults or people in film/media industry, because  people would not know about Foley.
• by not using so many sounds in one moment enhances each movements on the main character
• when the main character runs away, the pace of the sound quickens
• high key lighting is used to create joyful atmosphere
• this film might be categorised as a comedy as there is no other subject that would fit to this film (can be hybrid as well)
• Claude Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposition can be applied to this film, such as patient and nurse/doctor, bright and dark, silence and noise. etc
• this film is not obvious whether its linear or non linear, as the patient dies once and comes back after.

10. Table 7
Director: Marko Slavnic
Released date: 2010

• shot/ reverse shot is used to show the dialogue between a couple's conversation.
• by using cross cutting editing, it gradually reveals what behind them.
• the cigarette for the guy who is listening them create as if he is gangster or bad character.
• the enigma code is used while we seeing the guy writing down the notes of the couple's conversation, we think; who is he? what is he doing? why is he listening to their conversation? etc.
• the tracking shot is used to establish the inside of the restaurant
• lighting is set to low as the atmosphere in the restaurant seems to be formal and quiet, which fit to the restaurant
• the narrative of this film is linear as all the events happens in chronological order.
• lower key lighting is used in the guys office in the underground - conventional setting of suspense or crime
• the audience for this film can be young or middle aged couple as the story is about a couple
• the genre of this film can be romance but can also be hybrid as there are some thriller/suspense or crime film's conventional elements in the film such as low key lighting and setting in underground. etc

Examples of Enigma codes