Applying the five key concepts to short films - Harrison

Pop

This comic short film is about a man with an unusual problem, that involves his head to randomly changing to a balloon. The story follows him as he confronts his doctor, and attempts to go on a date, eventually the story ends with the doctor accidently stabbing the man in an attempt to burst the balloon.

Representation

• In my oppinion, the majority of short films are not targeted at particular social groups, and like this film, it would be enjoyed by anyone, and it does not target a particular race, age or gender. However, this short, and most others, are made for film enthuiasts, and aspiring directors.
• "POP" is a comic genre, and it achieves this through taking a ridicuus condition, which in this case happens to be a man with a head that turns into a balloon, and unleashing it into society and gages their comic reaction to his unfortunate condition. Also we know its a comedy by how the man talks about his condition, as he says "oh, i've been better", this is comical as it understates the strangness and severity of his condion.
• It can be conseved that this short film is a comedy about the compitence of doctors, as the doctor in this short film, although shocked by the mans condition, still undertakes the same procedures as he would with a patient suffering from a cold for example. This point is backed up when the doctor, after days of delibertation, decides just to pop the balloon with a knife, which results in him stabbing his own patient.

Narrative

This short follows the simpple narrative theories of Todorov, by the fact that it follows a linear storyline, starting with equilibrium, then a disruption or dissequilibrium, and finally a return to a new equilibrium. This type of narrative gives the viewers a clear picture of the mans problem, and how it effects his life. It clearly and effectively acts as a way in which to present the disturbance to the viewer, then show how the disturbance is an issue, in this case stopping him from socializing, and finally ending with it being dealt with.

Genre

The short film POP would be categorized under the comedic genre, however, most shorts do not typically stick to particular genre's. This is one short that has chosen to conform to a particular genre, and by doing this it appeals to a more targeted audience, one that enjoy watching comedy's. However, it could also be said that the comic genre is not like a drama in the sense its more obvious to identify its genre, meaning that this short may not have been created with the individual comic genre in mind.

Audience

Personally i think that the audience for this short would be other aspiring film makers, as it comes across as a typical short film, in the fact that it does not take itself too seriously, and rather experiments with different style's. This is why i believe the film would attract more attention from a film enthusiast as they will look to this film for inspiration of idea's for themselves. Having said that, POP would still appeal to everyday film viewers as i feel that its comedy can be appreciated by all.


Media Language

These two shots highlight the comedy factor to the film through the use of mis en scene, and in particular the acting and facial expressions used to portray emotion. The above shot (a medium shot) shows the man, slightly embarresed and calmly describing his problem to the doctor, and his facial expressions and tone suggest that he'd be descrbing just another typical condition you would go to your GP for, which is why this peice is comical, because it seems that he does not quite understand the severity of his perculiar condition, that being that his head, without warning turns into an enflated balloon. Its the second shot (over shoulder close up) that humours the audaice, as the doctors reaction to his condition is fairly humerous, to what is a serious condition.


0507

This is a simple short film, based on humouros steriotypes surrounding men. The film sees a couple watching T.V, the woman asks wheather or not he had remembered to book the church for the specific date, and he unconvincly says yes. He asks his girlfriend to use her phone to check his emails, at which this point the audiance is lead to believe he forgot to book the church, and his intentions where to call the church now. However, the main plot to the story is him trying to remember his girlfriends password to her phone, which happens to be her birthday. Eventually she reenters the room to tell him her birthday was "yesterday".

Respresentation

• This film would be targeted at mature couples, who can relate to the issues raised by the film, these issues being stereotyoes about the two sexes, particulary in relationships. This film humurously presents men to be selfish and forgettful, however, they are not represented like this in a spitful way, but more with a comic tone, so that woman watching this can relate to the issue, that being the stereotyipical behaviour of men.
• Interrestingly, the idea for this short film came from woman, which suggests it is a film more targeted for woman, however men are also likely to be interrested in this film, as men would relate to the humurous antics of the male lead. The connotations linked to the male are mostly negative, although humurous, they have a serious undertone regarding the beahiour of men towards their other halfs.

Audiance

This short would expect its target audience to be similar to the characters involved in the sense that their in a mature relationship. The age group watching this film would range from roughly 25 to 35, both male and female audience's are represented, but you might expect this short to appeal to the male audience slightly more, as they can relate to the comic male lead.

Narrative

The film is shot in one single continous sequnce, the linear type narrative combined with minimal camera movement and the fact that the whole piece was shot using just two edits, means this film is easy to follow, and draws all of the viewers attention through using as little distractions (cuts and edits) as possible. Again this films Linear narrative means that Todrov''s theories would apply to it, as the classic 3 act structure narrative is used (the set-up, disruption, and resolution).

Genre

The most identifiable genre for this film would be a comedy, however, as John Hartly's genre theories suggest you could also link this to a romantic film as well, making it a romantic comedy. I came to the conclusion that this is a romantic comedy through studying the semantic codes used by the director, codes such as, the couple laying down on the sofa watching television whilst sharing popcorn, codes typically linked to romance. Also the comedic codes where less noticable through crops, but more obvious through the facial expressions and acting of the male lead.



Media Language

I feel that this single shot portrays the style and form of the director, and sums up the whole film. This medium shot of the man shows him looking dazed  and confussed about the date of his grilfriends birthday, the shot sums up the comical direction the film directors chose to go in, that being the compitence of men, particulary focusing on the typical male antics when in a relationship.



Truth In Advertising by Tim Hamilton


This truley funny short comedy shot in 2001 shows the thinking mastermind and creativity behind a marketing process, in which the employees from different ranks of the company come together to discuss a marketing campaing, however, this short makes fun of the corporate process by having the characters say exactly what they really mean, rather than what would usually be expected from them in  a typical formal bussiness meeting.

Representation

This film clearly comes across as a well developed, maturer short film, with the comedy more suited to an older audiance. The film repressents a very bussiness class socail group, and you would expect the veiwers to watch this with the perspective that they can relate to the issues raised by the film-makers, the issue being of the fair distrupition of work load in the working enviroment, and the equility in the bussiness lader (meaning that in this case, the higher ranking workers seem more incompitant then the lower ranking poeple, and that they get by through stealing their idea's).

The character above represents the boss in the working enviroment, and his charcter plays the role of a man in charge, that perharps has come to prominance as a result of knowing the right people rather then his own knowledge of the job. In the short, whilst the other lower ranking characters pitch idea's and give suggestions (do all the work) this character, their boss, sits their mindlessly agreeing and contributing to no extend to the work, and basically get's by on his employee's work.

Narrative

The film follows a linear narrative, following the chronological proccesses involved in making an advertising campaign. The short is divided into 4 sections, numbered according to where they come in the typical marketting proccess. the plot gives us an insight into the real charcters, like the guy saying "going to sniff some cocaine..."  and story is what we actually see and how the charcters present themselfs, the plot suggests their actual personalities.