Codes and Conventions of Short Films

Technical ideas

Short films are not very technical at all, you do not usually see CGI being used such as an explosion or special effects. Mainly just basic equipment is used like a tripod and camera. It is mainly about the story being told than being technical and using CGI.

This is why I chose a plot where it doesn't need CGI or special effects, simply my short film is after all that CGI would be needed. All I need for my short film is basic filming equipment like it states for the typical code and conventions.

Todorov

Todorov is a very popular theory of equilibrium that is applied for short films. Firstly everything is normal, then a problem occurs of some sort, then the problem in the end is solved. This has became a well known theory that you see in most short films. I am going to try and use a different theory in my short film, to be more unique.

I am not following this, as this theory is very generic. I want my short film to be more unique and intriguing, not following the same structure that is predictable.

Character

In short films, there are typically only 3 or 4 characters as too much characters would make it too complicated as we are just seeing the film for a short time. We do not have time to see the backstory of lots of characters so they are kept low numbered. This means it is more effective and we can relate more to the characters as we see them more. There is mainly one protagonist, a leading character throughout the whole plot.

My short film defiantly follows this code and convention as my short film only contains one protagonist and only explains his backstory. As you do not have time to seek anyone elses. I will have a few other actors that only have a few seconds on show, but the main focus is on the protagonist.

Budget

The majority of short films have a very low budget, or not even one at all. This is because they are mainly independent directors, and they only use a few locations with little actors too. Moreover, In short films you typically see amatuer acting at a young age so it's not costly. Short films are for people that are starting out usually, as there is no big names in it so therefore no star appeal.

This is why I chose a plot with very little budget needed. A post apocalyptic world is very basic and you are not needed any amazing locations, I can just use abandoned areas near me. I do not need any actors other than one protagonist and a few family members, which will not be paid. So I am following this convention well.

Twists

Short films almost certainly all have a twist of some sort. They do this to make the short film more engaging and interesting as they are so short, so this makes it worth watching. Usually this twist is shown at the end to keep viewers at the edge of their seat and maintaining interest to keep them watching throughout.

I may be adding a twist, however I haven't decided that for sure yet. I may make it so the protagonist finally sees a human at the end after 2 years of searching.

Length

Short films are short, as said in the name. They are usually 5-10 minutes in length, if they were any longer they would not be short films. It is unncessary to make it any longer as there are not a lot of characters so we do not see a lot of backstories and we don't have a lot of time for them anyway. Most popular short films are live action or animation, here are some examples:

Geri’s game - 5 minutes long

Streamboat willie - 8 minutes long

Tin Toy - 5 minutes long

I will be making my short story at this length, most probably on the lower end of 5 minutes. I want to keep it short and engaging. To peoples attention spans.

Camera Movement Types

Now that I have researched camera angle and shot types and understand the reasons for each one, I am now moving on to researching camera movement types as this is also a very important aspect to know in film. A director may decide to move the camera with the action. There are six basic methods:

Pans

This is where you move your camera horizontally, left to right or right to left whilst it is fix based to a certain point. You do not actually move the position of the camera itself, this stays, you are moving the direction it faces. This can be used to follow the action or get a sense of location in your story perhaps.

Tilts
Tilting is when you move the camera vertically, opposite to pan. Tilt is up to down or down to up - shown in the example video. Again, like panning, this move typically involves the use of tripod where the camera is stayed stationary but you move the angle it points to. The tilt is used typically when introducing a character and to show them off, what they are wearing and how superior they are.


Zoom
Zooming is the most popular movement without a doubt, being the most overused. This is typically used when the director is not sure what camera movement to use to simply add more interest in a shot. Zooming in a shot adds energy to a fast-paced piece, especially a quick zoom. You can zoom in which brings you closer to the subject or zoom out which makes us further away. 

Dolly
Dolly shot is when you move the entire camera forwards and backwards on a sort of track or motorized vehicle. This makes the movement flow very beautiful and smooth which looks very pleasing to us. They are known as trucking or tracking shots sometimes and moves alongside the action following an object or figure. It is a very good way of portraying movement or moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience to a particular object or character gving suspense.


Crane Shots
Crane shots is basically dolly shots however in the air. A crane, also known as a jib, is a large heavy piece of equipment which is very useful for moving a camera. It looks like a crane with a human on the end of it and a large camera. It is very useful as it can hold the wight of them both. It can move in a lot of directions such as up, down, left, right, which swoops in action or moving diagonally out of it.

The Aerial shot
The aerial shot is practically a varian of a crane shot but is more freely and a larger height. It is taken from a helicopter but now more known for being taken by a drone like shown in my example on the right. It is mainly used at the beginning of the film to establish the setting or when the film changes to another location. A crane and helicopter is a lot more flexible than a crane and you can get a lot more shots where you couldn't on the crane.

Now knowing these movement shots, as well as my previous post of shots and angles, I am aware of the reasons for using each and the effects they give. Researching them has helped me deeply, so I can now use them for my short film and make my film more exciting and correct with the right shots, angles and movements.

Camera Angle and Shot Types

I need to understand the elements which make up a film as I am going to make my own short film, its just common sense to research them. When looking at a shot and describing it you think of three areas; camera angles, camera shots and also camera movements. I will be looking at camera angle and shot types in this post and camera movements in my next post. Firstly, camera shots indicated the amount of subject matter is contained within a frame such as how far away the camera is from which subject to us, the viewer. Each shot is very different and gives off a different meaning which I will be talking about now.

Camera Shots

                                                                           Extreme long shot

An extreme long shot is taken from a very long distance away from the focus of the shot, typically around a quarter of a mile away. This is generally used as the begging of the film for a scene-setting, establishing shot that shows the location or buildings. It doesn't normally have a lot of detail, it just gives off an impression of the scenario such as this example I have given.  It straight away lets the audience know that the scenery around him is isolated where it normally isn't as he is going in a city so it makes you think something isn't right.

                Long shot

This shot is practically the nearest to our eye sight, as it is the image the shows the closest to life size, being the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema. It shows the entire human body with the head nearing the top of the frame and the feet nearing the bottom. If the human is six feet tall then he would appear six feet tall in the film. Even though there is a clear subject, being the human, you can also see the background in a lot of detail such as the picture I have chosen, you can see everyone chasing him also.

                                                            Medium Shot

This shot is typically when the figure is seen from knees or waist up. This is mainly used when there is little or no dialogue at all. The background detail is minimal cause we already know the background as it has been established earlier. This is shown well in my example as this scene is of him being quiet sneaking up on someone which no dialogue is needed and is at waist height.

Close-up Shot
Close up shots shows very little background as it is mainly concentrated on the face only. Normally everything other than the face or mis en scene is blurred or very simple, such as in my example is a plain white door and you are focused straight on him. By doing this it magnifies on the object and shows how important the figure is. You usually see this shot to see there expression on a face to empathise there emotion.

                                                          Extreme Close-up Shot

Extreme close-up is even closer than close-up, it is zoomed in even more to give even more of an effect. It is normally magnified beyond what the human eye can experience in reality. It is typically used for a face, and you only see one area of it such as eyes, mouth or another facial feature. You normally see no background at all so you are completely focused on the figures face. It is used to see the figures deep emotion to make us feel sympathy and to be more dramatic over the situation.

Camera Angles

      The Bird's-Eye view

Like the name, you see directly overhead like a bird. It makes the audience feel godlike as we are looking down at the scenario and can make the people look significant. It is a very unusual shot however and seems unnatural so it is not used regularly. This shot is normally done with a drone to be more bird like. In my example it is used to make us feel like we are in the action also seeing the above shot of him jumping off about to fire his crossbow.           


                                                                                      High Angle
An high angle is not as extreme and high as a bird's-eye view angle. The high angle is used more as it is simply just the camera elevated and is used to see clearly above the action or scene. Or it is used to make an object or figure to seem less significant and scary and the audience to feel more dominant. Or like in my example you see the shot of over someones shoulder, this makes the person who is ever below less significant.

               Eye level

The eye level angle is a very neutral and general shot. This is when the camera is positioned as though the human is actually observing a scene, meaning eye level. So we are in levelled in focus with someone else's head. The camera is put six feet from the ground as this is the generic size - It is like a POV shot.

Low Angle
The low angle shot increases the height which is useful for short actors. It gives a sense of confusion for the viewer or it makes the figure feel more dominant and the audience more powerless. The background is normally the sky or ceiling and the lack of setting adds the disorientation to the viewer.

Canted Angle
This is when the camera is in fact titles and is used for point of view shots typically. It makes us feel imbalanced and unstable and typically is seen in horror or post-apocalyptic movies. A hand held camera is normally used for this effect.

The Seven Basic Plots

There is a book called 'The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories' that provides a comprehensive answer to the small number of basic stories we see in media. It shows that there are seven archetypal themes with recur throughout every kind of story telling:

-Overcoming the monster
A hero is tasked with destroying a monster, not always a literal one.
Example: Beowulf
-The Quest
A hero steps forth to perform a task, and usually allies are around to help.
Example: The Hobbit
-Rebirth
The protagonist is almost on the path to tragedy, however something happens that allows them to see themselves from the outside and they then do something about it.
Example: A Christmas Carol
-Romance
Two souls destined to be together, but kept away from each other by fate. Then they work towards being together.
Example: Shrek
-Voyage and Return
The protagonist finds him or herself in a world where nothing makes sense, no understanding who is friend and who is not. They eventually find the ropes of the world and act upon it.
Example: Alice in the Wonderland
-Rags to Riches
The protagonist rises thorough there station in life to achieve what they desire.
Example: Slumdog Millionaire
-Tragedy
The protagonist extremely wants something very bad and looses a part of himself to get it. By the end they are no longer themselves and become a monster.
Example: Spider man 3

What does mine align with?

I would say my plot aligns firstly with 'The Quest', as my plot is about about a character who survived a nuclear war and we see his quest on trying to find human race and his quest to reform human life. Secondly, it also defiantly fits with 'Voyage and Return', as he ends up in the same world as before but however it doesn't make sense that he only survived and hes the only human so no one can help him so it leaves him confused. But he does eventually get the hang of it and carry's on living his life. Lastly, you could also say that it fits in with 'Tragedy' also. In my short film you see that he wants to see his family and friends again so much that he looses himself to get it, you will see the state of him through the continuous of loneliness for so long.

Short Film Plot

The synopsis is resulting to a worldwide nuclear attack it leaves one survivor, who is my dad, as he is immune to the nuclear substance due to him researching this area for his whole life. He is on a quest to find other human life and to restart the human race.

I love the idea of having a post-apocalyptic plot as I think it is very interesting and intriguing as there is a slight chance it can happen in real life so it has elements of being surreal. Moreover, with the resources I have it would be great as I am going to just need one survivor and his story of the post-apocalyptic world. Therefore I would just need 1 main actor and a few supporting actors for the flash backs of life before. Also I would not need a lot of props so this will not be a huge expense, I can just use the abandoned places around me to show the result of the nuclear attack and also the second setting would simply be my house.

Researching Genres

I think it is important to research slightly into each genre, to see which one is the best choice and to decide which one I wish to categorise my own short film in. Deciding a genre can help me within my planning for the short film and get me a good area to start at so I think this post will be very helpful. I am going to evaluate each genre I have chosen that I am interested in and come to a conclusion of which genre I am going with.

Science fiction
Science fiction can lead to a very creative and unique film as the sky is the limit. It doesn't have to be real as it is made up to whatever you wish. However with science fiction films almost all of it visually is special effects of some sort. Such as Jurassic Park involving dinosaurs, Avatar's whole film is animation and Oblivion with space ships. This is too time consuming and realistically isn't possible because I am not capable in these fields to pull it off. 

Horror
Unlike most, I am not very fund of horror as I prefer to watch things with action or comedy. I feel like horror is quite repeated and dull. However it is becoming very popular as people enjoy to be frightened and see gore and other scary things. Making a short film with horror could be fun but making something unique with horror is quite hard as it is overused.


Romance
Romance is great as when watching it makes you feel happy as it shows passion and love within it. It is hard to demonstrate this in a short film that would mean something to the audience. However, it represents realism, so I wouldn't need anything majorly mis en scene wise and no special effects is essentially needed so it is a genre that is possible to achieve.

Comedy
Comedy is one of my favourite genres, some of my favourite films and television programmes are comedy. Comedy is very hard to actually be funny and humorous which I think will be a challenge to myself as I have never had any experience writing anything comedic. Furthermore, you with comedies you typically see a group such as Pineapple Express or The Worlds End, this will be very hard to get a large cast especially with a low budget.

Post-Apocalyptic 
Post-apocalyptic is an up and coming genre that is quite new to the film industry, it is extremely popular now with many films and television programmes. It is quite easy to pull a post-apocalyptic film off as you do not need a very high budget. You normally only need 1 or two actors and not a lot of mis en scene is needed which is extremely helpful. The only problem is you can not be very creative as post-apocalyptic films are quite repeated narratively.

Musical
Musical is a very popular genre and some of the most known films are within this genre like 'Grease' and 'The Wizard of Oz' so there is a large audience already there for this genre. However this genre is in fact mainly for females as it doesn't appeal to males that much so that reduces a large area of potential audience already. Musical would also be very hard to make as you would need to find many people to sing and sing well otherwise it would come across very bad which is hard to pull off. It is hard to make it be realistic and make it seem naturally which is incredibly hard to do. Filming a musical would be very hard to make successfully and I do not think I am capable enough to as I am not experienced with this genre.

War
War movies are great, they are action packed so it keeps the audience engaged. The props and editing are very professional and look really realistic. It is a popular genre. It is however very hard to pull off for a short film budget. It would be very hard to get a lot of actors to fur fill the war effect, get realistic guns and the correct mis en scene. It seems like a very expensive genre to pick.

Westerns
Western is many peoples favourite genre. You could very easily get western props at a local prop store as its very popular. It is quite a tense genre and it is very suspenseful with fights and face offs. However the negatives outweigh the positives. Firstly, western films typically follow the same story line and nothing is insanely unique about them. Moreover, there is no place near me with the right scenery for a western atmosphere (typically a desert). The closest I have to this is a white sandy beach but it would be too difficult to not show the sea and promenade.

Choosing a genre
My main genre would be apocalyptic fiction as this is the most accurate representation to my short film as I am thinking my plot should be relating to the time following a nuclear war event and his story afterwards so this is the best genre for my product. Post apocalyptic seems to be the most reasonable genre for the facilities I have and my budget so it is the most smart genre to choose in my opinion.
My sub-genres would firstly be science fiction as this fits with the synopsis well as my plot is a major social and environmental change. Moreover, action and thriller would also be my sub genres as there will be a lot of action and thriller. This will defiantly be shown throughout my product because I am going to make the short film very suspenseful; and an anticipation leading to the end which should make them feel at unease due to the suspense.
In conclusion the main genre will be post-apocalyptic fiction which will be my main focus and I will be doing research on. However my plot also falls in with other genres too, being science fiction and thriller, I will not focus on these two though.

Genre Theorists

Seeking genre theorists is quite essential I think. It makes myself acknowledge  the attitudes, assumptions and expectations about a text which makes sense of it.

John Hartley
John Hartley states ''The same text can belong to different genres in different countries or times''. Meaning that the same text can be adapted to to fit multiple genres for example, Mamma Mia can be adapted to many genres like romance, comedy and musical. What is important is where the narrative mainly emphasised, for Mamma Mia you see many songs being sung which fits the main genre of 'musical'. The overall point of genre is to categorise the film, and thats it. It should not limit ones creative potential.
Here is an example of how a text can be changed from a comedy, family film to a serious and action packed one. This is done by emphasising the narrative particularly and by doing this they used special effects, colour grading, music and other editing techniques.

This makes me think about my own short film that the techniques I use need to be used correctly and well to make it obvious of what genre and narrative I am trying to seek. John Hartley has been very useful in researching as it has made me question myself to be more carefully in research and I will need to research thoroughly and see the typical conventions of what field I am going down and using.

John Fiske
John defines genres as 'attempts to structure some order into the wide range of texts and meanings that circulate in our culture for the convenience of both producers and audiences'. This theory is concerned about how genre creates a pattern in fact, that constantly follows the genre conventions it is known for. 

Of course my short film will follow traits of John Fiske's theory as the majority of my short film will follow the same genre conventions of what genre I choose. However I also want to include a lot of originality within my product, so in other ways I will challenge this theory too.


Tom Ryall
Ryall states that 'genres may be defined as patterns/forms/styles/structures which transcend individual films, and which supervise both their construction by the film maker, and their reading by an audience'. He proposes a theory that the type of conventions found in genres can be grouped within the following categories:
Iconographies - symbolic symbols associated with the genre
Narrative - structure, open/closed
Representations - characters/stereotypes
Ideologies - beliefs and ideas of the 'ideal' concept, themes

Moreover, his theory holds that conventions of a media text should be very clearly defined so that the audience is made aware of the genre. However also some elements should be different to keep it unique and abstract. 

Narrative Theory

Understanding what narrative is, is very helpful and exploring narrative theory is defiantly essential to myself and structuring the short film correctly. Narrative is the art of story telling, which we all do every day. Its an important part of our lives. We see narrative when we watch film, TV or read books, it is the way different elements in a story are organised to make a meaningful story to the audience.
I am going to look at some narrative theories and then decide one or two that I want to include in my own short film.

Tzvetan Todorov
Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian theorist, his theory is one of the most popularly used in my opinion. He suggests most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which lie is normal and joyful. Then normality is disrupted by an outside force, which is fought against in order to return back to the normality being an equilibrium. This is used in a lot of films out there today. The model shown below shows his theory in a simpler way. Equilibrium ---> Disequilibrium ---> New Equilibrium

Roland Barthes
Another popular theory is by Roland Barthes, a French semiologist. He suggests that narrative works with five different codes which activate the reader to make sense of it. These five codes are:
Action - Resolution is produced through action such as a shoot out.
Enigma - Teases audience by presenting a puzzle or riddle to be solved. This delays the story to the en to finish it pleasurably. 
Symbolic - (Connotation)
Semic - (Denotation)
Cultural - audience can recognise as being a apart o a culture.

Claude Levi-Strauss
Claude Levi Strauss, a Social Anthropologist, studied myths of tribal cultures and also examined how stories reflect the values, beliefs and myths of a culture. These are usually expressed in binary oppositions, examples are below:
Americans vs. Native Americans
Good vs. Evil
East vs. West

Vladimir Propp
Furthermore, Vladimir Propp also had a narrative theory. He is a Russian critic and literary theorist and analyzed 100's of Russian fairytales in the 1920's. He proposed that it was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and functions, some films fit Propp precisely. The hero (seeks something), the villain (opposes the hero), the donor ( helps the hero by providing the magic object), the dispatcher ( sends the hero on his way), the false hero (falsely assuming the role of hero), the helper (gives support to the hero), the princess (the reward for the hero, but also needs protection from the villain) and her father.




Todorov is one of the most used narrative theory's within them. I want to be less generic in this sense and choose a different narrative theory so be more unique and innovative. Researching these theorists have been very helpful however as I now know how to structure a short film correctly.

My Narrative Theory

After looking at the main narrative theory's, I have came to a conclusion that I am going to follow the traits of Claude Levi-Strauss's theory of binary oppositions. I am thinking of the start to be a happy, normal life showing flash backs of his great life before then binary opposition, it turns into a horrible catastrophe and we see how the loneliness has affected him mentally. However I do not want to just base my short film off one theory, moving on in once I know more of the script I will make a post about the changes.

Deadline Plan For Completing Research

I feel like I need a deadline plan for my research as this is a huge part of my coursework and I need to be organised so keeping in line with a dead line plan will be very useful. I have made a more in depth post of the 'basic structure of my coursework' which is more about what I am posting but this post will be about the dates I need to complete it around. I wont complete these to the exact dates however I will try my best to keep up to date with it as possible. I decided to put it in a table as its easy to comprehend and know my deadline dates. Once I have completed the research I will go onto doing a deadline for my planning so I can be organised with that also. I do not want to do the deadline for that now as it will be too much and too confusing for the time being. Hopefully I can keep up to date with my dates and be on schedule as it will be very helpful.

Basics of Structuring my Coursework

My teacher suggested myself to be more organised in my work. Now that this year we have an extreme amount of work to do compared to last year, being a main task and 2 preliminary tasks, I think it is especially necessary to keep a structure for my coursework this year. I have decided to do each task separately, completing one task after the other. I will be starting with the main task first - a short film. This is the BASIC structural order of my posts for my short film:

Researching Narrative Theory and My Narrative Theory
Researching narrative theory will be very helpful and it is essential for structuring my short film correctly. I am also going to look at some narrative theorists and decide on one or two that will suit my own short film best.

Short Film Synopsis
This will be when I explain the plot I have thought of for my short film. 

Codes and Conventions of Short Films
This is an extremely important part in my research, one of the most important parts. This will enable me to see the generic codes and conventions of short films as this will indicate what my own product should be and follow.

The seven basic plots
This will be a post about the book called 'The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories', which explains the 7 main themes in story telling. This will be very helpful and useful to see which category(s) my plot goes into.

Researching Genres and choosing a genre
I will then research genres and decide which genre fits best with my plot and which genre I will do in-depth research in to get the best target audience for my short film. It is very important to choose the right genre, it is very broad so I need to make sure I pick the correct one.

My chosen genre and it's Codes and Conventions and research of this genre
Then, likewise to researching codes and conventions of short films, I then will research the codes and conventions of my chosen genre to get the basics of what they typically follow in a films. Moreover, I will also do a lot of research into this genre too, to get the grips of it.

Techniques used in my chosen genre within films 1/2/3
I think it is then useful to see techniques used within my chosen genre in films, so I can see and perhaps use them in my own product. It is useful to see whats effective so I can gain those techniques myself and make my short film very effective and engaging.

Audience and Audience Theories
Then I will go on and learn about audiences and theories behind them. It is useful to know the theories of how audiences are grouped.

Getting My Target Audience
One of the most important parts is getting my target audience. It is essential doing research to see the right age range and gender so you know you are targeting the right people. This then means you don't have to spend more in marketing as you know where to target your product.

Short Film Title Idea
I will then go onto mind mapping my ideas for a short film title as see which one is the most effective and engaging when looking at it. Having a good title is important as it is the first thing you see about the short film is hearing the name of it.

Questionnaire
Doing a questionnaire will hopefully direct me in the right path of my short film and it will tell me how successful my own short film will be by asking relevant questions and having feedback on my idea.

Changes to Plot and idea
Then once doing all the relevant research I will make changes to my plot and make it the best possible plot possible. I will change things from my original idea slightly and make it more interesting and intriguing.

Writing Script
Then doing most of the research I will go on to planning. Firstly, I will write the script and from my knowledge of research I can successfully write one well however I will look into script writing more as my knowledge is not very good.

Story boarding
Lastly, I will go on to story boarding and be thinking about the camera shots and angles and the mise-en-scene. This will help me when filming as I can look at the planning rather than having it all in my head.

Hoping to complete all research and planning by the end of october.

Introduction - Choosing The Brief (Short Film)

Last year we had lack of freedom of choice in our coursework , we just got told to design a magazine cover and contents page and that was it. This year however has excited me very much as we had a large range of choice and could decide whatever we desired. In the end I picked the brief:

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:

• A poster for the film
• A radio trailer for the film
• A film magazine review page featuring the film

This brief immediately struck out to me. I can show my skills in film making with this brief, unlike last year coursework which was graphic based. I make youtube videos which involves a lot of the same techniques of creating a short film and also I want to go on and do advertising as a career so I am very passionate about this brief. I also know the layout of a short film, compared to the other options as I am less aware of the structure and conventions of them.

Firstly I was going to choose the film trailer brief however I thought that I could express my talent more if I choose to do a short film as you can use a lot more shots, techniques and have the chance to develop a story better to the audience. Also the other briefs it was either liking one part of it and not the another such as the ancillary tasks were bad on most, this brief I have chosen is all round good which I love.

For the ancillary tasks I am going to choose a poster for the film and a film magazine review page featuring the film. I have chosen to do this brief as I am experienced in these two types of activities. I in fact do a lot of paid graphics work at home and I take graphics as my other A level so I am very experienced in these fields. We did a magazine for last years coursework also, so I am experienced in making magazine based prints and I know the layout and conventions for them too. I am excited to develop new skills in photoshop and perhaps even creating our own website.