What can we take forwardFrom our Textual Analysis’s ?

Created by James Perfect

Short film…..The Black HoleThe Black Hole featured an inquisitive narrative, that was particularly interesting and abstract, in our production we need to pay detailed thought into our narrative.

Behind the film their was also a strong moral of greed in which had been cleverly presented through the film. The Black Hole had been misused or its power explored.

The use of editing in the Black Hole was very strong and consistent, eye line matches of the character to what he was looking at kept the audience on track and immersed in his point of view.

In addition to this the editing of his hand not coming out the other side of the black hole was very effective and gave a sense of realism to the object.

The end of the film was very well “tied up” or closed. This had been carefully considered and the way that it was carried out added a sense of humour to the short film.

cShort film…..ConnectedConnected’s plot was very off the wall and abstract in which two characters “connected” together are scouring barren wasteland where they are confronted by a third person in a battle for oxygen.

The use of props and setting was particularly effective in this production and aided the audience to develop their understanding easier. (E.g. the setting complemented the need for oxygen), So in our production the use of props may enhance our short film.

The props and costume used were very convincing and here we can apply the theory of the classical Hollywood narrative in that the short film was fictional governed by spatial/ temporal verisimilitude meaning that the far fetched narrative was put into context by the use of realistic looking props (the costumes and oxygen reader).

The use of sound is also particularly effective in Connected at building tension and anticipation in the audience. In our production it is likewise important we consider the type and use of sound.

Short film…..HirsuteThe use of clever editing of shots that comprised of both the future and present man, made them to appear as though they were different but at the same time identical, this was central to the narrative of the short film.

This unusual narrative was attention grabbing and thought provoking to the audience. As it was often the case I was having to stop and think about what was happening (e.g. the beginning where the introduction is repeated- here I now understand in fact time is repeated)

Under further examination it was clear the narrative had been well thought out and constructed, specifically centralised around the theory of time and its dimensions. In our production a strong narrative will entice the audience in which I feel is important having examined this short film.

The choice of sound was also applicable to this short film however unlike Connected or The Black Hole their was an emphasis on dialogue in which presented the viewer with an inability to see the conflicts between the two men.

Short film…..Main findings

One of the key factors to a successful short film was a simple narrative.

This narrative is closed and follows Todorov’s narrative (equilibrium- dis-equilibrium- new equilibrium) in which a resolution is found at the end.

A short film features no more than one to three main characters.

Short films have no set genres like traditional film instead they are usually abstract and feature “out of the box scenarios”.

Poster and Review….The Black HoleThe poster features the main subject of the film the male at MS, interestingly this shot is actually from the short film itself and this could be related to the small budgets short films have (they could not afford to budget a proper photo shoot).

In the middle of the poster the title “The Black Hole” is vibrant and eye catching, however appears in-coherent to the short film whereabouts the black hole in in black writing in the opening shots. Developing a coherent style should be a focus for my group throughout our three products, so the audience can identify that they are in relation to each other.

The review is formatted slightly different than to what I would of thought. The use of sub headings aim at provoking the reader to question themselves about matters such as one paragraph titled “flight or invisibility”. This is quite an unusual approach and is reinforced by the writer which touches loosely upon reviewing the short film itself. The layout and content of our review will be important in our production and we therefore need to plan this well.

Poster and Review….ConnectedThe Connected poster creates an air of professionalism in comparison to the Black Hole poster I previously looked at. The poster features credits of the director, production crew and actors stated at the bottom, this was missing in the Black Hole poster.

The clever use of colour on the poster amplifies the title “connected” where the pipes that are connected between the two characters are in white contrasting the black uniforms. The connected characters are at LS- we will need to consider shot type and length in our production.

The review fails for the majority to actually “review” the short film instead a detailed synopsis is given. It is not till the end where the writer comments on the film in which they compare it to other short films.

In our review we must ensure that we comment upon the short film, highlighting both good and bad points instead of summarising the plot of the film found in the Connected review.

Poster….HirsuteThe poster to the short film Hirsute has been considerately thought out in the way that it appears to resemble the central theme of the short film itself “time travel”. This is clear through many features including the opposite facing headings that are significant of the past and the future in addition to the credits that appear to be laid out as a timeline.

In our production we will need to carefully consider the image’s we use in relation to the theme or narrative of the short film. Another consideration is the composition of the image on the poster, in this poster the image stretches nearly the full poster.

A MCU of the two men morphed together illustrates the similarity between the two on the outside, this is a common focus of the short film, so here a relation between the poster and short film is evident.

Interestingly the alignment of text is different to traditional posters where it is organised in horizontal columns, here it is arranged vertically across the poster. The only issue being it is quite hard to read.

Review….Dinosaurs of PatagoniaWe looked at the Dinosaurs of Patagonia magazine review for its layout as opposed to its content. The review was firstly well structured in which the writer gave a praising yet considerate review of the film, highlighting certain areas.

The review was laid out very different to the online reviews I had looked at for the short films The Black Hole and Connected. At the top of the review the title was accompanied by the Director, Year of release, certificate and run time. All of which we may need to feature in our review.

Another notable difference was that the review featured both the credits and a short synopsis separate from the review. The credits were very detailed, in which they listed all areas of film production whilst the synopsis gave a short overview or summary of the plot of the film as opposed to what the writer though (this was expressed clearly in the review).

Poster and Review….Main FindingsThe poster has to have a direct relation to the short film, as I've recognised the poster will feature the main character (s) of the short film, as opposed to a prop or setting.

Credits of actors, directors and producers are also all evident on the majority of short film posters.

A clear and bold title is evident in all cases, usually situated in the middle of the poster.

A title of the film is evident on all reviews; the usual form is to also place the running time and production company just below this.

The review takes the basis of an intro and summary the writer often gives an honest opinion of the film reflect by a rating out of 5.