After being shown some examples of shorts and what they basically contain through evaluating certain features as mentioned in the previous post. Now it was my turn to research some film shorts and then evaluate them. Really it was wise for me to find some shorts that stick as close to my brief as possible to give me an idea of the layout of the type of short film I will be producing. There is however an example of an animated short just to show the concept of this way of producing a short film.
So when researching the film shorts, I decided to follow the publisher of the fist 3 film shorts we watched to see the different examples they had to offer as many of these short films were award winning films. Therefore I presumed it would be wise to use them as examples for films to critically analyse.
One Man's Loss
The first film found was called One Man's Loss. The duration of this film is 6:02 so its roughly matching the 5 minute time limit our brief gives us. It is also live action which is also part of our brief. Heres the clip so why not take a look.
In this short we see the typical twist we have been referring to in the previous post of shorts. In this case, the poor male at the beginning of the short ends up becoming the better man out of the two male characters. The other twist is that the higher archy male ends up becoming the worse off character, losing everything he holds dearly also seen as Karma for his bad attitude towards the male at the beginning of this short.
The use again of the sudden emotion path that this short takes us on is quick and fast pace so that we can reach the twist at the end of the clip and come to the conclusion that everyone got what they deserved (stolen clothes and no girlfriend for some so not always positive)
The sound used throughout the clip including the songs matched the feelings and emotions in each phase of the clip ensuring that they audience clearly understand how each other characters is feeling or about to feel without actually telling them 'oh I really hate him so now I', going to walk out and then drive off in his car with a man I don't know...yay.' because that would just be boring. The music is what drives this clip and links each emotion to the next.
The choice of camera shots also allow the emotions to be closely followed. Like when the male and female slap each other, by getting a close up of the female before she slaps the male represents this idea of there being a chance they get together. The moment he tells her the other woman he's with means nothing to him, the sensitivity goes and the fight breaks out.
The audience would in a way see the humour at the end especially with the song and the way life turns out and changes for both the male characters. This idea of them swapping roles would show karma to the audience as well as giving them a surprising twist at the end.
Waste
The next short found takes a different approach whereby it takes the life of an everyday bored male that doesn't look after himself (as do many males today) and showing the way in which his life changes when he meets the female in this short. The duration of this clip is 9;44 which is a little over but still following similar concepts.
Wasted shows this idea of us all having our secrets with the twist of the clean perfect female actually having a cupboard filled with a mess represented through animated monster pop up designs. By having this twist, it gives the audience the message that we aren't all clean perfect humans, we do make a mess once and a while.
The idea of taking everyday situations and turning them into something out of the norm with the use of animated characters to represent the mess the male character makes in his flat and at work. By doing this it again takes the audience on this surprising emotional journey that goes through phases of shock, humour and surprise (or realisation of someone seeing themselves in this clip maybe!)
The audience see the idea of the stereotypical male being the messy one and they aren't afraid to hide it. Then then show the stereotype that a female is always tidy and takes over and sorts out the males mess. This is the twisted, coming away from hegemonic ideas showing the hidden female messy side which would leave the audience with an unsuspected twist at the end.
The Barberless Barber
This film short is a little different to the previous film shorts as it takes a different approach in the way it is set but still follows the same concept of there being a twist at the end of the clip. It also follows this humorous side though the onscreen action and strange sounds and music used throughout.
This short take a slightly different approach to the other shorts we've seen in that it follows the Charlie Chaplin route with the comical over exaggerated movement and body language as well as the slightly jumpy old fashioned setting to the short.
The idea of a typical journey a male would take even in todays era (chances are they'll probably have money and jobs are all advertised and applied for online but you get the idea) and then taking us on the highs and lows of the journey with again THE TWIST!
By having this unusual element of the barber not actually being a barber surprises the audience a litre. It isn't really seen today so in the era this short is set it is even more peculiar.
The music adds to this peculiar journey with the unusual chromatically key music used within the clip. This music gives it this circus idea which symbolises weird and wonderful things being discovered as the progress of the short journey continues.
The audience would find this humorous with the final outcome of the whole journey as we see it was all done for nothing really which would be funny to the audience watching this short.
Geri's Game
This may not be following the brief in which we were given with it being an animation, however this short does show that the same ideas can be applied to animations as well with the humour and twists. This is more around the length of the film we need including titles and credits.
This short is obviously aimed at children and so the humour of this short is aimed at their knowledge and abilities to understand concepts used in this short.
The idea of the male playing chess on his own is humorous in itself (debatable but for children it would be) and so the audience would see this as a twist in that he's basically playing a game that will be lose win to him.
The comedy elements such as him disappearing under the chair is quite humorous to the audience as they think he's joking around playing this game when in actual fact he really is playing as two different people.
The idea of taking a genuine situation and making it humours like in this short where they get him to play by himself and him disappearing etc is funny to the audience choice as they'll understand the basics of the game chess.
This clip shows that animations can follow the same concept of the shorts genre and basic layout. it has a twist, humour and an everyday or typical situation made unusual.
So there you have 4 clips with some similar and different approaches to shorts. However they all follow the same concept of being unusual or humorous or even both or neither depends on your humour and sense of judgement probably. So these shorts will be shared with others to see if they have the same opinions and critical conclusion that I came to when watching the shorts.
