Tight Jeans - Short Film Review

Tight Jeans (2008) - Destiny Ekharga

Genre: Light comedy

Narrative: Three black teenagers are becoming frustrated while waiting for their friend. A young white lad walks past wearing super tight jeans. The boys look on until one of them asks the pivotal question, "How can a man wear jeans that tight?" This sparks a hilarious debate about race and culture.

—Destiny Ekaragha

Representation: White women wanting to be a part of the black community, and young people/young black men.

Audience: We're watching the guys, and so are not part of the conversation.

Notable Micro Elements: 

• Camera always moving
• Clothing colour pops out compared to the grey estate
• Font and music at the beginning sets the tone
• The urban location shows potentially deprived people, which has the same vibe as Do The Right Thing film.

My response to the film: Not the most interesting short film, and I wouldn't say I really liked it. But at points I did think it was funny and I thought it was interesting how their conversation was carried, with comparing tight jeans to white women, and then eventually talking about their cultures history, such as slavery.

What could I use? 
The establishing shots at the beginning gave an indication to us on the type of people we would be seeing. And I might use the use of bright clothing with dark backgrounds, just because of how much your characters will stand out.

What could I develop?
Having the characters in only one setting is quite good to use for character development. Or if I am wanting to go for a more narrative type film.

What could I challenge?
The lack of a distinctive plot line is what I didn't really like.

Operator - Short Film Review

The Operator (2015) - Caroline Bartleet

Genre: Suspense

Narrative: An Emergency Services Operator in a Fire Control Room has just started a long night shift when she picks up a call from a desperate young mother. An hour previously, Gemma had fallen asleep in front of the television and has now woken to find the room full of smoke. Her three year old son is trapped in his bedroom upstairs. Flames have started to creep down the stairs that Gemma must use in order to reach him. The operator’s guidance is all that Gemma can rely on in order to survive.

Representation: The struggle of being a fire service operator, which is having to remain calm and help people who could be in a life or death situation. And then they instantly have to go onto another call without having the opportunity to recover with what they have just been a part of.

Audience: We're placed in the operators point of view, and there is no visual aid only sound.

Notable Micro Elements: 

• Overlapping voices
• Only hearing the victims voice and the sound effect of fire
• Close ups of the operator 
• Slow moving in terms of giving different shots and angles

My response to the film: This film did make me cry, and I think it is because of how intense this film actually is. I think what made it scarier was not being able to see what the victim was seeing, so we have to use our imagination. And if you've never been in the situation that is put towards us, then it is hard for us to comprehend what the mother must be going through, as well as, the poor operator who has to keep collected to save people's lives.

What could I use? 
Having voice overs, it could possibly make a situation more tense or emotional.

What could I develop?
The use of close ups, but instead I would like to experiment of having different angles and seeing if having more close ups or longs shots is better.

What could I challenge?
The plot is not something I could copy just because I think without proper research of hearing actual 999 calls or being in a similar situation. You would not be able to present it in the right way.

The Fly - Short Film Review

The Fly (2014) - Olly Williams

Genre: Dark comedy 

Narrative: An uptight getaway driver waiting outside a bank robbery has three nerve shredding minutes to get through before his crew returns. All he has to do is focus.

Representation: How people react in tense situations.

Audience: We're half watching/ half experiencing the fly with him. 

Notable Micro Elements: 

• Fly sound effect
• Cuts back to the bank, with muffled voices, showing the more serious side to the film
• Lots of angles and shots to show how tense and quick paced this is
• Fly sound used even up to the very end, when it has become obvious that the bank robbers are caught.

My response to the film: I mostly do like this film, and I think it's because I can relate to it! I am a person that gets stressed about a fly not leaving me alone, and so in that way I feel for the guy and that's what sets me apart from someone that doesn't like this film, that they may have not experienced what I have. I liked the use of different camera shots, which works well when it's set in a confined space because it kept me interested to see him experiencing this situation in different parts, either outside or inside the car. I do think that the ending was maybe too stupid and overdone, but on the other hand I love that it is overdramatized, because that is where the humour comes from.

What could I use?
I am going to think about how I can quicken the pace with some parts of my film, and in this one I've learnt you can do that with quickly cutting to different shots and angles.

What could I develop?
The use of cutting between two scenes interests me, as they both can connect but tell completely different stories, which I think is a fun aspect to a film.

What could I challenge? 
Maybe not use something as annoying as a fly, and to perhaps do a more serious story line.

The Ellington Kid - Short Film Review

The Ellington Kid (2012) - Dan Sully

Genre: Social realism, dark humour

Narrative: In a typical South London kebab shop, Nathan explains to Beefy why he really shouldn't eat the burgers.

Representation: Shows a typical representation of a gang (stabbings), and the kebab owners are not British, and automatically presumed they're 'from some war torn country'.

Audience: We're not involved in being told the story, and are actually just placed as an onlooker. We are left confused as it is not explicitly stated that the story is true or not. 

Notable Micro Elements: 

• The close ups of the sharpening knife, chopping meat and frying chips with loud non-diegetic sounds included with the title, to add a sinister tone.
• Slow motion when the kebab man closed the door.
• Worms eye view of the man seeing the stabbed kid laying on the floor.
• Clear difference between day and night - indicating the cuts from the two boys to the gang.
• Leading tunnel lights towards the stabbed kid.

My response to the film: I think the film is good, I like the dark humour aspect to it. And even though it is a common story line it was well made. I liked the cuts between showing the boy telling his friend the story, and actually seeing the event taking place, I actually thought it gave a good visual aid to the film and was more interesting than just seeing someone just telling a story. The use of characters was well done, and I didn't think there was anybody out of place.

What could I use? 
I may consider using a voice over for my short film, as I feel like I could use it on parts where I want to focus more on what's being shown. Or to help with flashbacks if that is something I end up doing.

What could I develop?
The idea of using day and night to show two scenarios. I could also use it in the context of good vs evil.

What could I challenge? 
To perhaps not have such a linear narrative structure, and this could make the film more interesting and unique.

Over - Short Film Review

Over (2015) - John Threlfall

Genre: Real life crime

Narrative: Events of a crime scene unfold in reverse order

Representation: The film is set in a quiet, middle class estate

Audience: To us an audience, the crime is shown subtly until the full story is given to us at the end. We are the bystander, and are only allowed to focus on one stop, which ends up being the place where the crime took place.

Notable micro elements: 

• The long takes on each time frame leaves us in suspense
• Ambient sounds - birds, cars, people
• Cuts to the objects the man had in possession (gloves, balaclava, torch, phone, camcorder, sweets and a family picture)
• Camera circles the spot where the man was

My response to the film: I personally enjoyed the film, but I think that it can only work as a short film. This is because of the use of long takes, and if it was a full feature film it would be very boring. The use of long takes does add a good amount of suspense to the film, and by the end of the film I did jump at the man falling on the car, just because my eyes had been fixated on one quiet spot. I liked the use of using a true story, as it added more of an emotional aspect to the story, as throughout it we are not introduced to any characters so we are not involved within it, and had no attachment to the dead man. At the beginning I was quite confused because no information is given, expect the woman laying flowers by the side of the road, and that is an indication that someone has died. Seeing the items such as the balaclava, I thought that it could of been a break in and someone died as a result of it, and so by the end of film I was shocked by the true story. And it was good to watch a film that still has significance in 2019, where only recently an event like this has happened again.

What could I use?

I think I would use the use of long takes from this film, as I have learnt, if done right, they cause such a big moment of suspense that it is easy to shock an audience.

What could I develop?

I think the idea of using a true story is quite good as you can show something in a visual way, and this can leave people understanding the story more than just reading or hearing something that they couldn't imagine happening.

What could I challenge? 

I didn't like the way the long takes didn't have enough action happening, and so perhaps if I do use the choice of long takes I would still make it interesting enough, so that the audience wouldn't be completely bored.

The Film Brief

The coursework brief:

• Apply knowledge and understanding off elements of film to the production of film or screenplay (A03 60 marks)

This means I have to either create a complete short film (5-6 minutes length) or write a screenplay for a new short film (10 pages, equivalent of 10 minutes screen time) plus a digitally photographed storyboard of a key section (20 photographed frames).

• Apply knowledge and understanding of film to analyse and evaluate own work in relation to other professionally produced work (A02 30 marks)

This means after creating the short film, I need to write an evaluation.

My response to this brief is that it is very broad with few restrictions, which is a blessing and curse, and has left me feeling overwhelmed in choosing a good enough story idea. I have chosen to create the short film rather than do the storyboard, I came to this decision because I am interested in editing.

In my own words, I see a short film as something with a short story line, with quick character and narrative development. It also is cheaper to make and allows new film makers to test different ideas on a smaller scale. The definition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is that it is eligible for nomination for the Oscars, as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits. 

An introduction...

Hi, my name is Claire Doughty and I am a film studies student. 

There are a range of films from different genres that I enjoy watching and so I do find it hard to pin it down to one favourite film! If I had to choose the ones that I enjoy the most, I would have to say Legend (2015), The Great Gatsby (2013) and Trainspotting (1996). These films are ones that I can go back to time and time again and never get bored. Obviously there are classic chick flicks from the 1990's and 2000's that I adore, such as Clueless (1995) and Mean Girls (2004). I am also known for being a fan of John Hughes 1980's such as The Breakfast Club (1985) and Sixteen Candles (1984).

The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences and thoughts as I progress through my coursework to create my own short film.  

I don't have a lot of experience in making my own films, but I have taught myself on how to edit using Sony Vegas Pro, and so I am looking forward to expand my editing skills, as well as using my own footage to work with. 

I look forward to showing my journey in creating an interesting piece.