Research -Short Films














As the genre for my short film is going to be mainly comedy, i will now research some short films that mostly follow this genre.
I first came across the BBC Film Network and found a short 6 minute film called "Goodbye Mr Snuggles" i thought this would be suitable as it was a comedy and was 6 minutes long so i would get a feel of how long my short film would have to be and what to include.



Length: 5:39
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jonathan Hopkins

The main narrative of Goodbye Mr Snuggles is about two typical english countrymen who go to a field and decide to paint and have a peaceful afternoon. Things dont go to plan when a mad clown arrives where the men are painting and things take a turn for the worse.

The scene begins with a long shot, establishing where they are. From the surroundings we can tell that they are very wealthy, as one of the men exits from a manor house and the setting is very rural. There is a sound of non-diegetic music in the background of classical music which sets the scene well and makes it seem like a comedy and just two men walking in the country.











The next shot we see is quite disturbing, there are quick, close up shots of a clown smoking. He has very smudged and dirty make up, very unlike a typical friendly clown that many people associate clowns to be like. You can also hear really loud sounds of a car approaching which make the audience very apprehensive about the clown and what he is going to d0.











The mise en scene of the clown with dirty make up is supported also as he is playing with a gun which isnt a object normally a clown would own. The loud sounds of the car getting faster and the classical music of the main story make it again seem very disturbing.

We then see the two men find a spot in a field for them to paint. Quick shots of the clown approaching in his car and the two men painting make it seem as though sooner or later these characters will meet.

The codes and conventions of a western film are then introduced, the clown then skids into the field, like a horse would do in a western film and the two men painting soon realise something isnt quite right. There is then a close up of a car door opening, it says "The Amazing Mr Snuggles", this establishes that the clown we have seen in earlier shots is the same person we see now in the field.













The clown then reaches for his gun and there are
close ups of the clown and the old mans eyes, typical of a western genre, its as if they are about to fight. The comedy aspect of this short film is that all along one of the old men had been carrying a gun in their painting case. This changes the narrative of this story and shocks the audience, because it was unsuspected of the old man.



















Another useful place i found for short films was Depict! and i found a short film named "Le Cheval".



Length (Minutes) : 1:40
Genre: Comedy/ Art-House
Directors: Alex Kirkland & Stephen Scott-Hayward

This short film again is a comedy but has a french style effect to it with it being in black and white.
You cant directly tell that this short film is a comedy but there are certain points in the film where the character says "I want to be a horse", this being the point of the film.

As he is saying this, he is running madly through a field in a suit.
There are mostly long shots throughout this short film of the man running through different places in the countryside like down hills, past trees etc.
These shots give the film a very simplistic which is a convention of a french film.

The way the character is clothed is in a blacksuit and tie, this challenges his representation of a office worker as he is running through fields, which may suggest that he wants to be out of his comfort zone of the office.

This short film is very light humoured and also has quite a touching story about a man who doesnt want to live his normal working life anymore but be a horse and be free. This film follows the codes and conventions of a short film with a simple storyline and 2 genres blended.
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Genre

Genre plays a big part in the research of short films, in this project i will have to look at whether my short film will follow the codes and conventions of a genre or not. Theorist Richard Maltby said " The success of Hollywood is reliant on the combination of predictable elements with variation". He is saying that all Hollywood films should follow the codes and conventions of their typical genre. So for example a romantic comedy would typically have a boy and girl falling in love, they would be young and it would be a predictable ending.



Another media theorist Rick Altman disagrees with Richard Maltbys theory, he says that " Genres are restricted and they do not allow or acknowledge the hybrid". He is saying that Genres shouldnt stick to the codes and conventions of that genre but have a blend of different genres.

I think my short film will follow some codes and conventions of a typical genre but maybe not all of them.
There are 5 different reasons why people watch certain films or television programmes, such as



1. Social


2. Escapism


3. Entertainment


4. Personal Identity


5. Information



This is known as the Gratification Theory.




We researched different genres of short films that we could look into and brainstormed ideas, by looking at some genres we realised it would be too difficult to create a short film about certain genres as we wouldn't have the equipment and it would take up too much of our time.


We decided by looking into different genres that we would want to mainly concentrate on comedy, although it may have elements of different genres, as we may not be able to just stick to the one. Therefore my short fim will not just be comedy but follow conventions of others.





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Initial Ideas

Our initial idea, we looked at videos on Youtube. We researched short films and came up with an idea of a person running from watching a clip from the "Horne and Corden show" where a character is running throughout London chasing a woman named Julie, whilst he is running after this particular woman he passes many places on the way eg London Bridge. After this idea we decided to mindmap ideas around the theme of "the running man", we came up with the idea that he should be running to get somewhere on time so that he wont be late-eg- his wedding or the dentist. We then were given the idea from the film of "Sliding Doors" where it follows the lives of a woman with two different outcomes in one day-when she catches the tube and when she doesn't. This links in very well with our idea of a person running to get somewhere on time. We came to the conclusion that using a form of transport is a good way of showing the difference between two outcomes.



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Target Audience Results

After researching into our target audience we created an audience questionnaire for our target audience and asked them about short films, we also showed them the few that we had watched from youtube with the idea of someone running and asked them what they thought of these.

Target Audience Results
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