The three short films i have chosen to analyse contrast each other and are very different in terms of their conventions.
One short film that I have witnessed within my education is called 'Double Take'.
The narrative of ‘Double Take’ is a non linear, open ended circular narrative and it can be argued to be multi-stranded as we not only witness our main character the thief but also from the hidden identity’s perspective as he films or filmed the thief.
This short film has no dialogue at all with lots of kinetic camera work to add the realism of the digital camera also incorporating the shrill grainy recording of the diagetic noise and ambient sounds. This short film is about a thief stealing bags for money, I believe a purpose of this short film has a moral of justice that crime will not prevail, in the sense that the thief had to pay for all the things he stole but not to justice. The open ended narrative lets the audience wonder what could have happened to the thief and to what extent he was punished for his crimes. I believe the purpose of this short film would be targeted for youthful audiences such as teenagers or young adults but may not necessarily have a set target audience. The producer could of tackled the theme of pick pocketing or stealing from a entertaining point of view with the purpose of aesthetical enjoyment in the idea that the thief got what was coming to him, possibly the reason for the no closure in the narrative is due to not concentrating too much on the theme of pickpockets but instead focusing on the clever use of cinematography and twisting narrative.
Another short story that is slightly different to 'Double take' is called 'Alive in Joberg' posted above. The producer of this short film, Neill Blomkamp uses a unique documentary style that is very different to the majority of other short films in the way the narrative is presented through characters talking to the camera and a voiceover. However what is similar to ‘Double Take’ in terms of the narrative and plot is that we are not told how, why or then the aliens arrived, there was no opening to the story as Toderovs theory would suggest, also to add to this there was no conclusion to the problem or narrative closure. This short film just explains the facts and how they are; it does not inform the audience into before or after events. Because there was no beginning or conclusion Neill Blomkamp could not develop the characters sufficiently for the audience to be engaged and has a few 'human' actors that are used as a narrative tool in the developing plot. This theme of aliens with a spaceship hovering above cities is quite an original idea, leading the purpose towards enjoyment of the short film, there is lots of editing of footage with CGI effects and lots of realistic costumes of aliens or bodysuits with a high body count to make the short film a good quality realization that the audience will enjoy.
The final short film that I will analyse is called 'Panic Attack' by Fede Alvarez who developed his work and achieved an £18 million contract. In this story there is no dialogue, just a score and diagetic sound accompanied with lots of CGI effects, we first witness a child playing with toy robots and then huge CGI robots and futuristic looking spaceships or planes all heading in one direction together, at this point the audience are engaged and under suspense wondering what is going to happen and were are these robots heading to? Similarly to the previous short stories I have analysed the narrative structure is not bound by acceptable norms, therefore does not have a narrative opening due to its limited duration, for example where did the robots come from? Fede Alvarez uses lots of kinetic handheld camera to incorporate realism in the situation for example the earth shaking footsteps of the giant robots as we witness a shot from a characters point of view. It is only after a few scenes were we witness the child playing and the robots until we see the title of the film that crackles into view via white noise and scrambled pixels on a TV, an appropriate tool for introducing the title in this genre suggesting a lost connection. The rest of the film is a depiction of possible events if this was a real situation, the city is damaged, people are killed, and the grand finale is a big explosion that was the robots main task where everything is destroyed bringing narrative closure. Similarly to the previous short film 'Panic Attack' does not have a beginning, we like the people in the film only witness the robots not when they landed but when they arrive to the outskirts or the city, however this film does have a conclusion that lets the audience know the robots final motives and does not leave an open ended finish.
Concluding, i have come to realize that the short film genre has little, if any standerdised conventions that are expected in a mainstream film, i beleive a large factor effecting this is the duration of the short film unlike in mainstream films, the audience are not dismayed if they did not like the short film as it did not take up much of the audiences time. Secondly the producer can experement more with conventions and try incorporate innovative, new ideas to make a name for themselves through promotion like Fede Alvarez and 'Panic Attack'.
Due to the short duration short films do not need to include a typical narrative structure meaning they do not need a beginning or an end, unlike mainstream Hollywood films that are expected to follow Toderove’s theory of a beginning, middle and end. Short film producers can experiment more with cinematic effects or themes to create their works of art, hard hitting themes such as drugs or social breakdown can be tackled as the audience are not confronted with these issues for too long, often these themes are tackled with a moral or used for educational reasons. Cinematic and sound can be developed into different styles creating an unnatural shot with the effect of tension and uneasiness in the audience, the creativity is really limitless.
Researching and analysing these short films will have an impact on my production, I will try to use and develop some of these conventions that I have studied above for example I will use kinetic camera work to incorporate realism or create a documentary style production with a voiceover pushing the plot. I now have a better understanding of the short film genre and its conventions and purposes; I believe I am in a better position to start planning my production.
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