Steadicam

On Monday, our Media class was introduced to the Steadicam by a member of staff. He taught us how to set it up and shoot footage, so the next lesson, me and Natalie Tracey tried it out. We took the camera around school and each took turns filming and being filmed. To start with, we did walking, then as we got more confident, running. At first it was quite difficult as I found the steadicam quite heavy and difficult to control, but I feel like this was a worthwhile exercise as I have definitely improved my camera skills, which is essential if I want to create a decent final film. Here is our footage:

Initial Idea

After completing my research, my initial idea is to create a documentary exploring love and what it means to people of a variety of ages. At the beginning of the year I originally chose the short film task because it meant more creative freedom and the chance to be really expressive. I plan to have three parts in my short film: An introduction with montage style editing and a voice over; The main section with the interviews, and an ending, which I am yet to decide what it will feature. I am leaving the ending open until I have conducted all my interviews, because obviously until I have done them, I don't know what my conclusion is going to be. I imagine that it will take the same format as the beginning section with a montage sequence with a voice over.

Michael Moore

Michael Moore is an American film maker, most famous for his documentaries. You may wonder why I chose to research this particular director, when his work is all politically based (and my idea is clearly not) but I have two main reasons: 


1) He is the director and producer of the highest grossing documentary of all time, 'Fahrenheit 11', so he is pretty much about as successful as  you can get
2) Although his documentaries are all politically themed, this is clearly what he is passionate about, which is perhaps why he makes such good documentaries about it. He has lots of questions that he wants answering, and lots of ideas that he wants to portray, about a subject he really cares about. While researching him, I read on IMDB that 'Michael is known for having the guts to give his opinion in public, which not many people are courageous enough to do, and for that is respected by many.' Reading this definitely made me think that he was a good person to draw inspiration from.


TRADEMARKS

• Often uses classic film clips and music for juxtaposition
• Narrates all of his documentaries in the first person
• Often mentions or shows his home town in his films
• Being tremendously outspoken about anything he believes to be a 'social wrong'

Conventions of Documentaries

To commence my research on the documentary genre, I have looked into and made a list of the typical conventions:

1) VOICEOVER - Aids in informing the audience and can also help to make a documentary feel more personal, as the person could be sharing their point of view on a subject
2)'REAL' FOOTAGE OF EVENTS - All events presented to the audience are to be seen as 'real'. Documentarians often go to great lengths to convince us that the footage is real and unaltered in any way, although editing and voiceover can affect what we as viewers see
3) TECHNICALITY OF REALISM - Uses 'natural' sound and lighting, so nothing appears artificial. Has to be 'real' at all times.
4) ARCHIVE FOOTAGE/STILLS - To aid authenticity and to add further information which the film maker may be unable to obtain themselves. 
5) INTERVIEWS WITH EXPERTS - Used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. However, they may sometimes disagree with the tendencies of the documentary, but if this is the case, it is likely that their points will be fought against.
6) USE OF TEXT AND TITLES - Words on screen can help to further inform the audience and provide extra information, and they also often show the passing of time by stating the date or general time. It is a very quick and easy way of providing information
7) SOUND - Music is a very effective way of creating a mood or an atmosphere - this is often non-diegetic . It can also be used as a bridge between scenes, or even in some cases help to further inform the audience
8) VISUAL CODING - Much like in a fictional piece, mise en scene can also be used in documentary. It could possibly be used to make things more clear to the audience and portray information as simply as possible. For example, if you see a man in a white coat and with a stethoscope, most people will automatically recognise that he is a doctor.

Breakthrough (And a Slight Change in Direction..)

From my short film research and analysis I have realised that the films about romance I have the most preference for are ones which take a documentary approach. I like the fact that they are easily relatable and I love the simplicity and honesty of listening to someone elses experiences and ideas about a theme, rather than creating a fictional story around it. I believe that a lot of people have a lot of interesting stories to tell, and I would like to make it my mission in this project to find these people and make their stories into a short film exploring love and what it means to people of a variety of ages.
Obviously now I am taking more of a documentary approach, I need to do some research into this genre to ensure that my film stays true to the conventions and as a finished project is authentic.

My First Crush

This short film is called 'My First Crush', and is again a reminiscence, except this time about people's first crush, with animations of animals as the visual.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004r6q8

Again this short film can't be uploaded, but this is the link

The visual of this film is a series of cartoon animals on pretty simple backgrounds, and the audio is a variety of people talking about their first encounters with love. This means that the people retain anonymity, and all the audience know of their personal details is their first name. This ability to remain anonymous, could mean that the people were more willing to share their stories, and the fact they don't actually have to be on camera, could have persuaded them to do it in the first place. The animation also relates to the overall 'childlike' and 'innocent' feel of the film, and adds an interesting dimension I feel, to the standard interview style of most documentary style short films. 

I Expect Joan Feels The Same

To further understand the short film conventions I have decided to analyse some of my favourite examples. This particular short film is called 'I Expect Joan Feels The Same', and is about two women reminiscing about their husbands who they lost in the war.

I Expect Joan Feels The Same
(Unfortunately, the video cannot be uploaded to my blog, but this is the link)

CAMERA WORK: In documentaries, a variety of camera shots can be used to portray people in a number of different ways. In this short film, the camera is positioned next to the women, not directly infront of them, which somehow makes it feel a lot less informal, and more like a 'chat with friends'. It also defies convention in that it doesn't use a close up shot of the women, even once. The maintenance of the mid shot makes this short film seem a lot more dignified and less intrusive. It's like they're not just playing on the audience's emotions, they are genuinely just trying to inform you of the two women's stories. Also, for the most part, the women are kept in a two shot, making it clear to the audience that this a shared reminiscence, and also helps to convey the fact that this is not just one person's experience - this situation actually happened to a large amount of people at the time.  


MISE EN SCENE: Just as the camera is often deliberately positioned to convey a certain idea or mood, the actual elements in the shot are often deliberately chosen. The location of the interviews is a typical 'home', making the situation instantly relatable to the audience. One of the women is also wearing red, which connotes love, one of the major themes of the film. The other main theme is war, which is also connoted through the use of red, with it being the colour of poppies. 


EDITING:  Montage sequences are often used in documentary film making, most of the time to help tell the story, or show something that has happened in the past. In this short films, the inserts of photographs of the husbands work poignantly in contrast to the present day interview. The clear age of the photographs (they are in sepia) reiterate to the audience how much time has passed since they were even alive. Being a still image, it also represents the fact that all they are to their wives now is a photograph and a memory. This helps to convey the emotion to the audience. Between the photographs and the interview there is also a dissolve edit, which symbolises time passing. 


SOUND: The first sound you hear in the short film is the interviewer asking a question, with no music at all. This is rather unconventional and implies straight away the importance of the women's conversation, over any other sound. We also hear their voices, before we actually see their faces, which again suggests the importance of what they are actually saying. This is reiterated by the fact there is no music used in the entirety of the short film.

Initial Short Film Research

I started my research by reviewing the history of short film, and reading a variety of articles about them. I condensed this information into a short power point presentation, which is here below:

Short film

View more presentations from rachelchadwick

Introducing Myself To Short Film

So after researching genre, it is apparent that I obviously need to look into the form of the media product that I am actually going to be creating - in this case, short film. I have to admit I was rather apprehensive to start on this bit, because in all honesty I had no idea where to start. Short film is something that I've never explored before and I genuinely struggle to think of times when I have even been exposed to it. Then I remembered, yes! Pixar! At the beginning of all their full length feature films, there is an animated short. I specifically remember one called 'Partly Cloudy' that I absolutely loved about a cloud and a stork:

Although this is obviously an animation, I feel by revisiting it, I have found a good start to my research. I have realised that in spite of the fact it is so different from the kind of short film I will be making, all short films have the basic principle of getting either a story, or a point across in a fairly limited amount of time. 

Marc Webb Short Film

Marc Webb is the director of 500 Days Of Summer, which up to date is his only feature length film (He is currently in the process of directing 'The Amazing Spider-Man'). However he has directed a variety of music video's for the likes of artists such as Counting Crows, Regina Spektor, and even The Pussycat Dolls. I also found that to kick off 500 Days of Summer's release, he made a separate short film, starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt about a bank heist in which the male character's heart gets stolen along with the money. Now I have to say I have found this video classified as both a music video (it is set to 'Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? by She and Him), and as a short film, so I'm not really sure what it would be officially categorized as; but as I believe short film is a very broad term, for all intents and purposes, I am going to brand this as one, and analyse it as preparation for creating my own short film. 

MISE-EN-SCENE: 

• The male character is seen wearing a full suit and sunglasses, which evokes a sense of mystery about him. The female character is wearing a vintage inspired outfit, which could indicate that this short film is set in maybe the fifties or sixties. 
• The location is a bank, which implies that the characters are either middle or higher class. 
• The facial expression of the female character remains quite innocent throughout (this is re-iterated when we see her doing dance steps such as a 'hop-scotch'). This is contrasting to other aspects we see of her: She seems fierce enough to not be afraid of a bank robber with a gun, and even goes as far as seducing him. At the beginning, the male character maintains a serious facial expression, but as the film progresses it's like it continually fades as he falls in love

CAMERA WORK:

• There is only one cutaway shot in the duration of the short film, and it is a close up of the two character's hands touching. This highlights how this is the turning point of the narrative - it is almost suggesting the whole idea of 'love at first sight', and how this changes everything
• At the beginning of the film, close ups and mid shots are mainly used to familiarise the audience with the two main characters
• For the majority of the choreography part of the short film, long shots are used so that the audience can clearly see the character's dancing

EDITING:

• The only editing used in this short film is a cut, showing that it all the action happens at one particular time
• The pace of the editing is fairly slow so that the audience can clearly see the action and choreography 

SOUND:

• The soundtrack to this short film is a song called 'Why Do You Let Me Stay Here'? The song has an overall theme of desire and lines such as 'I would like you for own' connote the romantic nature of the narrative
• There is no dialogue at all in the entire short film - it is almost as if the director is trying to express the storyline instead, through the music and choreography. It also connotes the physical nature of the relationship - from the eye contact at the beginning to the close dancing in the middle. 

500 Days Of Summer Film Poster Analysis

• The main feature of this film poster is the collage of all the different images of the character 'Summer', with some being made to look like a sunshine. This gives the impression of something quite arty and original, which relates to the film as it is not a typical romance, and has a sense of being quite personal to it. The vast amount of pictures of Summer implies Tom's perhaps obsession with her, and just by looking at the film poster we are already getting the sense of maybe 'she means more to him, than he does to her'
• The actor's names appear in an uncharacteristically small font on the top of the poster, and this implies that the director is not trying to use big name stars to try and sell his film. This again re-iterates the overall 'anti-Hollywood' feel of the film as a whole. 
• The colour scheme is fairly neutral, except for the sunshine in the middle that is yellow. Yellow has connotations of light and warmth, which could represent Tom and Summer's relationship (in it's good days anyway), informing the audience that this is a romance film. Yellow is also the most difficult colour for the eye to take in, and is thought to enhance feeling of emotional distress. This could represent love and it's many complexities. 
• The tagline for the film 'This is not a love story. This is a story about love.' runs across the bottom of the poster. The font looks almost handwritten, which again gives the poster a more personal and casual touch. It also implies that the film's creators seem to have a point that they want to put across. This film is not completely shallow, it has a message, which relates to short films as they often have an objective, rather than just a storyline too. 
• The body language of Tom instantly suggests that he is more of an introverted person, as his stance isn't very open, and he almost looks like slightly childlike. This could represent his naivety and the fact that he has a perhaps childish perception of what love is (definitely in comparison to Summer). He is also drawing, which implies that he is quite a creative character, which we find to be true in the film, as we learn that it is his dream to become an architect.
• The photographs of Summer show a wide variety of facial expressions, which portrays the wide range of emotions that are portrayed throughout the film. This suggests that Tom and Summer's relationship isn't necessarily going to be an easy ride, and that the audience should expect a lot of ups and downs.