Real Media Artifacts - Short Films: Replay

We are immediately dropped into the action as the film begins, the scene is shown as a barren wasteland and a sandstorm is starting. Lana is running to the bunker as fast as she can and her breathing is fast, this builds tension and fear, it also helps to make her seem more vulnerable and human which makes her more relatable to by the audience. As the airlock cycles we see that she is wearing a gas mask, this shows us the danger of the world outside which helps to explain later events and depresses the audience by showing them the sorry state the world is in.

The scene shifts to a medium shot of a tape player in the desert which begins to play a sad song, as it does the title 'Replay' writes itself into the sand. The music and setting again helps to establish the mood of the film which is very downbeat.

A long shot of Lana inside the bunker shows the audience what everyday life is like for her, the darkness and lack of activity shows how depressing life in this post apocalyptic world is like. She enters her living quarters where we see Theo for the first time, his friendly greeting and boyish nature helps to brighten up the scene and gives the viewer hope that better things will come later. Lana shows her latest haul of valuable objects to Theo including a tape player and switches it on, the sound of children playing fills the room. He tries to listen to some more of the recording but Lana takes it away since she needs it undamaged in order to sell it. Theo is annoyed at not being allowed to listen and asks if he can accompany Lana on her next trip but she won't allow him since he is too young. This shows us life from Theo's point of view and illustrates how bored he is by the confines of the bunker.

During the conversation between Lana and Theo most shots are medium or close ups which are used to show the emotions of the characters, allowing the audience to better understand them. There is also a low drone of air filtration equipment throughout the scenes which adds to the atmosphere of the bunker, showing how dependent the humans are on the surviving technology in order to survive themselves. Theo also has an artificial leg, this shows the audience how vulnerable he is, making them fearful for his well being.

As Theo goes to bed he takes one last look at the tape player and some downbeat non-diagetic music plays, this tells the audience that he still feels unhappy about not being able to listen to it more. The non-diagetic music becomes diagetic music playing from a radio as the scene changes to the morning which keeps the scene transition smooth. Lana finds that Theo has left the bunker and sets off after him. We see Theo outside an abandoned town in the desert, the echoing wind coupled with the downbeat music makes the scene very upsetting. The harsh sun has bleached colour from the landscape and the lack of life completes the vision of total destruction which adds to the depressing atmosphere. Theo plays the tape and sounds from the past are injected in to the present, he looks around trying to find a source but all he finds are ruins which adds to the feeling of loss the viewer feels.

Theo eventually ends up at a school and listens to the sounds of children playing. As he listens the sounds seem to come to life, the music also becomes more positive and uplifting. Spectral children can be seen playing, they are imbued with a colourful haze which breathes life into the surroundings. Lana is trying to find Theo in the town which reminds the audience of the danger he is in. Theo sees his reflection in a broken window and the music becomes darker once again, with him wearing his gas mask he looks very strange to the colourful children. He decides to take of his mask and breathes in the air, after nothing happens to him the audience feels relieved. As he drops the mask his artificial leg repairs itself and the world around him changes to that of the past. The ensuing crescendo of colour is joined by equally uplifting music, the lack of danger and the abundance of life fools the audience into thinking all is well. Almost immediately afterwards Lana arrives and finds Theo lying in the yard, most of the colour has left the scene and the music has become sombre. This sudden change will shock the audience after the happiness of the previous scene.

There is a long shot of Lana kneeling next to Theo which pans slowly down to see the tape player playing the now haunting sounds of children. As the tape finishes all sound and music stops except for the echoing wind.

Chris,
The analysis of your products show a clear focus and understanding of the key codes and conventions. It might be worth analysing the general layout and the effect on the reader and how the central images and colours link to the genre of the films. The posters that you have are for Feature-lenght films. Are there any posters for short films and if so are they different?
Miss D

Real Media Artifacts - Movie Posters

Lord Of War



This poster shows the lead actor Nicolas Cage, he plays arms dealer Yuri Orlov in the film, his role is represented by having his likeness composed entirely from bullets and bullet cases. His solemn expression shows you that this is not an upbeat film which links into the violence and sadness commonly associated with firearms and war. The tagline 'Where there's a will, there's a weapon.' is a play on words and shows the films black comedy elements and Yuri's attitude towards arms. The Billing block information is arranged around the edges of the poster to create an unobtrusive border which draws attention towards the center, the infomation includes a link to a website which has more infomation on the film.

Cloverfield



This poster does not reveal a lot about the story and lures the audience in by teasing them with the very unusual evidence left in the picture. The viewer will wonder what could have caused such damage to the area and this will make them want to watch the film to find out, the only possible clue is the claw like scrapes on the statue of liberty's back which will lead the audience to believe that a monster could be the antagonist.. There is very little infomation on the poster, no names or taglines that could offer an insight to the story which makes it even more mysterious. The imagery of the smoke clogged manhattan skyline is one which will draw even more viewers in due to it's resemblence to the terrorist attacks on the 11th of september.

Product Placement

Short films are usually made by independent film companies so they don't always have distributors, instead many short films are presented by the film makers themselves at film festivals and conventions to large audiences. There are many film festivals around the world which accept work from independent film makers such as: The Edinburgh International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and The Los Angeles Film Fest. Some festivals offer awards and cash prizes to notable works in certain fields. There are some film companies such as Aardman Animation who originally started independently making low budget short films but due to their popularity and unique style they have collaborated with larger companies such as Dreamworks to make bigger budget feature length films including Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

However short films are rarely shown at commercial cinemas except for when they precede a full length feature film, quite a lot of Pixar shorts are shown in this manner. Short films are rarely distributed through mainstream retailers such as HMV except for when they are in compilations, take the Animatrix or Creature Comforts for example. The previously mentioned Pixar shorts are also distributed as DVD extras alongside the full length feature films. There are however some retailers who sell short films, many of which are based on the internet such as Amazon.com and Netflix.com.

The internet is also an easy way for new filmakers to get their work noticed without a distributor. Sites such as youtube allow hosting and viewing of videos and is entirely free to use which makes it a very good place to host early works for a large audience to see and discuss. This method is very low risk and does not require any contracts to be agreed upon and still allows your film to be enjoyed by many people. This is the method I will use when distributing my finished short film.

Chris,
Your questionnaire results show some thoughtful analysis but the results of the last question give quite contrasting answers so you may want to think about asking some more questions or targeting a focus group to try and help you make decisions regarding wether the storyline should be surreal or literal.
Also, ask questions regarding the genre of short films and animation vs real life.

First Questionnaire Results

1) "Are you male or female?". This shows the ratio of male to female questionnaire recipients. 40% of the them are male and 60% are female.

2) "How old are you?". This shows the amount of people of different age groups I asked in my questionnaire, the largest of which was 16 to 25 as many of the people I asked were other students in my class.

3) "Have you ever seen a short film?". These results show that 95% of the people I asked have seen a short film.

4) "If yes, what did you find was different between it and a normal film? (Apart from length)". I got many different responses to this question, here are some things I was able to learn from them:

- People noted that there was only one storyline instead of the many sub plots that feature in longer films.
- There is sometimes less speech than conventional films and more of a focus on music.
- The pacing is faster and there is usually a twist ending that the viewer wasn't expecting.
- There is usually only one scene and one setting for that scene.

5) "Did you enjoy it?". These results show that 90% of the people I asked enjoyed the short film which they saw.

6) "If yes, what did you like about it? If no then what did you dislike about it?". From the responses I got I was able to draw some conclusions:

They found that the atmosphere is greater and the story ideas are really original. They like the fact that the stories don't drag on and that a lot of entertainent was squeezed into a small time span as this allowed them to see the whole film in a single sitting without being interupted.

7) "What do you expect from a short film?". These results show what my questionnaire recipients expect in a short film, they were allowed to choose more than one of the options. 'Unusual or surreal storyline' and 'Concise storyline with no unnecessary filler' are the two most popular categories.