Previous Job(s):First worked on a make-up counter for Bobbi Brown at Macy's (American Department Store). On the side lines she planned on becoming a Singer/Songwriter. She was eventually signed by Island/Def Jam Recordings, but then dropped after a year as they saw no gap in the market for her.
Residency: Studio Apartment in Compton, LA
Family Life: Good relationship with Mum and Dad, however they think she works as a receptionist and lives in an apartment in Brentwood, LA - when they come over she uses a fellow stripper's - Amy- apartment. Her older sister is a surgeon, so she has a lot of pressure to do well, which could be the reason she crumbled, especially as her dream profession is taken as a joke with her family - not in a mean way, more unrealistic. Aaron is unaware that she is a dancer/stripper at the club, he thinks she is waitress there.
Close Friends: Aaron is the only 'friend' she can rely on. Amy is somewhat of a friend, but she is hard to trust, just like anyone in her job. She pushed all her friends away by lying about life.
Where Is This Person Right Now?: In the toilets of the adult club, crying about the failure that is her life and getting ready to take a 'hit' to numb there pain.
Who Are They With?:Currently alone, but is about to be joined by a drug ravaged colleague.
Where Were They at 10pm Last Night?: Preparing to get ready for a night of senseless adulterated dancing.
Who Were They With?: Amy and 7 other colleagues.
Where Do They See Themselves In 5 Years?: Hopefully a success in the music industry or married to Aaron with children in a house in suburbia LA far away from her current life, also clean off drugs.
Against the mark scheme, I graded this as a Level 4 piece gaining 38 marks. The films itself went against convention, which we only realised once the film had finished, so this meant during there was some confusion as to what was going on and what would happen next.
The camera angles used were great, they showed good attention to framing and there was close attention to mise-en-scene, which was heavily important in the first few scenes because it enabled the audience to get a clear picture of the characters personalty, which was key because the film was a silent film. This being said, there was the odd camera angle that could have been improved, such as when we are shown an over-the-shoulder of the 'artist' holding a letter up, a closer view would have been better and documented the film more. The editing was smooth and clear, and there was not problems with the continuity of the storyline.
I liked how they had focused on aspects of scenes; for example at 3:53, the focus from the Impossible Bottle to the 'artist'.
Against the mark scheme I graded this as a Level 3 gaining 30 marks. I thought it had a great use of camera angles, a wide variety were used and this enabled them to pick up several key emotions that the little girl subtly had, especially when she was confused, for example the little girl turned up her nose at the new era she had opened up into. Some camera angles however were too wide not giving clear reasoning for their involvement; for example at 1:41 a long shot pan is used to show the little boy reading a newspaper and the little girl walking towards him. Too much of the garden is shown in this shot, it demonstrated that the little girl had seen the little boy already, but the acting would prove she had not, giving no clear reason for her to wander from the table of adults.
There was continuity problems with the editing. A lot of the time you can skip certain movements in clips e.g walking towards a door - you don't have to show the full walk as the audience usually get the idea. However, in this the risk did not pull off. There was moments where the characters had gotten closer and it was not explained when she got that close, confusing the audience - shown at 1:57 where the little girl had gone from behind the tree to in front of the little boy who is standing rather than sitting down, which is what were saw him last doing.
This all being said, the use of children in acting is usually difficult. As they joke in Hollywood - never work with animals and children. In this short film though, the children acting well considering they are very young, there was a few moments where you could tell they struggled, however, editing can be as much to blame in these scenes.
Another criticism, is that the dialogue was often muffled by the wind - Grandfather talking.
Using the mark scheme as a guide, I graded this piece as a Level 3 gaining around 27 marks. This is because they had good control of the camera. Very rarely did we see the camera faulter, it was still, however when there was a POV from the girl's view the camera was very shaky and when the camera cut into an extreme close up this increased more. These shots were risk to take and unfortunately did not give the right effect; though it demonstrated how close the couple were, they were unnecessary.
With the film being in black and white it allowed for colour to emit emotion. The simple colour change of the balloon from silver to fushia pink showed the audience the girl's real connection and feelings for this boy and how depressed she was proir. This is reiterated when she becomes heart-broken and the balloon changes back to silver. By there being no sound, these factors are just as important as facial expression and body language (mise-en-scene) as they tell the story without the need for dialogue.
Another problem I found was that the editing was not 100%. There was often cut errors where is was not smooth enough and certain cuts made it look amateurish.
Throughout the months of June, July and August BBC Three have had special selection of programmes under the theme "It's a Mad World" which looked at a range of mental health problems that affect young people of Britain.
One programmed especialy caught my eye and gave me an inspiration. 'Extreme OCD Camp' followed the lives of 6 teenagers/young adults living with obsessive-compulsive disorder who embark on a life changing treatment course departing to the USA. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037wn0l - Link to programme page.
Mental health is an issue with a lot of stigma, however, a lot of the worlds population is affected by them; whether it's depression, eating disorders or multiple personality disorder.
One idea had from watching this series was a short clip on the theme of a documentary following the trouble that someone has suffering with OCD (one based around a phobia of sickness and bacteria). For example the difficulty one would have just pouring and eating a bowl of cereal, a task that the majority find easy.
In the first establishing shot we are given an introduction to an urban, working city life. We are then situated with medium and long shots of the general public during what looks to be rush hour (works traffic) at the train station. We are shown a collection of shots where there are adults in smart clothing - presumably for work-, reading newspapers and then are given the polar opposite of adolescents in casual clothing, listening to music and conversing with friends, as well as flirting between a group of teenagers. Once on the tram, we are introduced to an elderly woman dressed yet again in a formal suit. The placement of the black youth next to this white, elderly woman is to show the audience the full comparison of two different worlds - old and young. The elderly woman's discrimination towards the youth is not age related, but a racial attack. The clothing differences highlights the difference in opinions that the separate generations have. The elderly woman also has a problem with two Arabian boys situated on the train (earlier flirted with two German girls). The fact that the majority younger than the ranting woman are in casual, except for the working, is the demonstration that they have accepting these immigrants into their culture and in fact are incorporating some of their norms into theirs. The smart, formalness of this elderly woman and another elderly man who is shown to agree with the wicked rant demonstrates how in their ways they are, and refuse to take on societal changes because it goes against their norms, values and beliefs.
Sound:
Non-Diegetic:
The saxophone and drums during the establishing shot and introductory scenes are used to emphasis the busy work atmosphere. There is a deliberate use of non-diegetics because they give the film a documentary feel (even though it is not one) which alerts people to 'realness' of the situation
Diegetic:
The elderly woman's dialogue is almost like a narrative, however she is still in shot. This yet again emphasises on the documentary feel to make people aware of seriousness and extent of racist behaviour and how it can be anyone.
Camera Angles:
The establishing shot is a crane shot which introduces the audience to the environment of the characters, which helps with the fill in of their schemas with stereotypes we associate with areas of the same class. Low angles are often used to get view of the black youths POV when he is being discriminated. Long shots are used to get reactions from people on the tram. Extreme close up s are used to show the tension building and to put emphasis on little actions e.g a smirk.
The first introductory establishing shot we see is of a male and a females shoes. The female is wearing walking shoes and the male is wearing some fashionable trainers. From here we see a collection of two shots, which demonstrate that this is a couple, however not so much happy. The woman is seen storming ahead whilst the man is constantly complaining, either in his dialogue or with body language such as the brushing off of mud on his jeans with a deep sigh of annoyance. His 'difficulty' to climb a wooden fence is really his reluctance to carry on with the muddy autumnal walk. The girl friend storming off suggests that the boyfriend have done something wrong previously. We are then introduced to a farmer, however we only know he is a farmer because of how he is stereotypically dressed and material items- tweed hat, Land Rover, green outdoor clothing and a later shotgun. The built up aggression that the boyfriend has is then shown in a medium two shot when he demands to fight for the piece of land that they believe to of trespassed on. The aggressiveness that he shows when unzipping his jacket also stands for his ego to show his patriarchal dominance. An over-the-shoulder shot of the boyfriend then putting his jacket back on after the 'farmer' walks away gives the audience a fake sense that the battle is over, however, the farmer then returns and shoots the boyfriend, leaving the girlfriend shaking in fear and grief. We can see in a close up that blood has splattered onto her face leaving her with more fear. The farmer then saunters off only to swivel round and aim the gun at the woman. We are then situated with a shot of the forest and a gun shot resulting in birds flying out of the trees. A medium shot then shows the farmer continuing ith his previous journey and the two bodies of the couple.
Sound:
The sound is all diegetic. There is no music and sounds such as the wind and motor way noise are natural and kept in the film to give situation context. Of course in reality the gun shot noise is not real because it is acting so that is edited in, however, the gun shot is a realistic one in the context, especially when the gun is not in shot and the birds caw and fly away.
The Sundance Film Festival is one of the largest independant film festivals. It is a showcase to introduce new independant filmmakers for both feature length films and short films. It was established in 1978 and in 2012 they had over 46,000 attendees. The festival was founded by the actor Robert Redford (famously played Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby); the name Sundance came from his role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundace Kid where he played the Sundance Kid, an American Old West outlaw.
UK
Established in 2002, the London Short Film Festival is recognized as the UK showcase for cutting-edge independant films. This year (2013) had over 7,000 tickets sold, more than 75 events and over 300 films screened. The Guardian call it "The Best Short Film Festival in the World".
The Encounters film festival was established in 1995 and is held in Bristol each year. It offers the chance to see the very best short films, as well as workshops, talks and exhibitions. It attracts a public audience of around 8,000 each year. It is branded to be "The UK's leading competitive short film festival".
BBC Film Network
This website is an interactive showcase alternative for upcoming British filmmakers to promote their short films. The BBC have often backed these directors/film or have taken a keen liking to short film to add to their collection. It also offers filmmakers great tips and instructions on how to make a film and the exhibition process, plus the chance to submit your own film. This link http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/organisations/category/festivals-and-competitions/ has a selection of festivals and organisations that sponsor and include shorts from the website.
DVD Extras
It is very common for DVD's to have special features, and sometimes this include shorts by the production un related or related to the film. For example Pixar often show an unrelated short before the main feature at the cinema and on DVD's they usually include both related and unrelated shorts. On the Monsters Inc. Special Features there are two short films - Mike's New Car and For The Birds.
Mike's New Car follows the two main characters Mike and Sully in a comedic situation that fits in with the ideal we have for each character following the main feature. Producers often create shorts like this because they want to prolong the characters and situations they get into.
For The Bird is Pixar's child friendly way of demonstrating the segregation that humans suffer every day due to racial differences, which in this case is demonstrated by different bird species. It teaches young children the value that by excluding someone for their race comes back as karma - "What Goes Around Comes Back Around". Pixar often add their interpretation of adult situations to transmit to children norms, value and ideals that are widely shared in society.
For the majority of stories, the plot follows Todorov's narrative stages. This is no different in short films, the only difference being the story has to be told in a more limited amount of time, no longer than 40 minutes, compared to a feature film which on average lasts 2 hours.
Todorov's Narrative Stages:
Equilibrium-The setting is established, key characters are introduced and a storyline is set up.
Disruption-Oppositional characters appear and the story takes a turn.
Recognition of Disruption-The lives of characters and events are interwoven. Tension builds through out these particular scenes, which often take up a large part if the film.
Attempt to Repair-The highest point of tension which once resolved there is change in dynamic.
Reinstatement of Equilibrium-Matters are resolved, problems are solved and questions are answered.
The difficulty with telling the story in short films is introducing a character, their personality and their place in society within the space of a few minutes, as well as introducing other characters and relationships between them. Also because of the limited time the point of disruption is often immediate, which when script writing can cause some script-writers to waffle fictitious events from unrecorded and unscripted events.
However, the benefit of limited time is that it enables the script-writer to get to the core of the character cutting out unnecessary babble which feature films often include. It also benefits the audience because it allows them to a grasp straight away who the character is and their position in the story.
Not only is the story usually told by using Todorov's theory, but through mise-en-scene. The positioning of characters and their facial expressions expresses hidden emotions and can give an insight to following actions. Attitudes can also be transcribed through clothing; for example if a young male is dressed in baggy, informal attire then they are unlikely to have an uptight, snobby personality compared to middle aged woman wearing a tailored skirt suit.
