The Reel Thing: 2009

This is the blog that I'm meant to be avidly keeping up to date since starting my planning and making a film module in October. It's now December and the end of term... I think an update is well over due. Woops.

Lets start at the beginning. Once upon a time, there was the beginning of term when we were looking at shorts that had been submitted to various film festivals/ competitions (see my first post). This was to provide us with an idea of what would be involved when we came to make our own films.

Over the weeks that followed our tutor Mike, assigned our film groups and gave us the script "What would you do for a pair of shoes?" written by Pascha Hanaway. Our adaptations could be interpreted however we liked, bearing in mind that our film could only be shot over a weekend and had to have a running time of 5-8mins. There was also no budget for our films, so we had to be extremely practical.

"What would you do for a pair of shoes?" Tells the story of a teenage girl who falls in love with a pair of shoes in a shop window. She can't afford them, so takes on various jobs to earn money. Whilst working as a waitress she takes a woman's purse and using the money she finds in it, buys herself the shoes. However, after purchasing them she is no longer satisfied and desires other inanimate objects.

This is the original Shoes (2009) [Dir. Gemma Huntingford]

When I first read through the script I felt there were a lot of directions that it could be taken in, such as replacing the shoes with something more symbolic? Or focusing more on the idea of morality. But finding one that would be easily accessible whilst being entertaining proved more difficult than I'd expected. Especially with Mike telling us we needed to add suspense!

Looking over our first draft the outline was very similar to "What would you do for a pair of shoes? " I believe we stayed true to Hanaway's script whilst adding a sense of realism to the story.

I think that I was really fortunate to work with the people in my group as everyone seemed to have a similar vision for our film, and we had a lot of fun working together.

"As I Was Falling" dir: Rachel Tillotson

This short tells the story of a man committing suicide by jumping off the building. The development is in the title; 'as i was falling', this was happening... And the film concludes as he hits the ground.

I thought the use of black and white for the shots with the man falling, and coloured shots for everyone else was quite poignant, adding another level of separation. And what particularly caught me was his body's reflection on the different surfaces as he fell, the pot, table and teapot. The fact that no one pays attention makes him all the less significant.

The message is strong, and the film is shot from some great angles.

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"Big" dir: Sara Dunlop

Another suicide. But I really liked the script from this film, everything is big. His life is big, his problems are big, and his actions are big. The film is actually very charismatic. The music is moving and really helps change the atmosphere, and the visuals are very crisp. The colour is quite washed out and unsaturated adding to the effect. This film was Depict's 90secs winner from 2000.

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"Fine" dir: Michael Akerman

This short in-particular is very clever, and is reminiscent of the saying "Keep calm and carry on". I think the audience can really relate to what they see here; A man sitting in a bath having a panic attack. The voice over describes all the things 'we' generally panic about when suffering from a panic attack. The visuals actually show what goes through our minds in graphic detail. The development is the cause and how he deals with it, whilst the ending is very dismissive, "...everything is going to be fine. Next!"

This short manages to get it's story across very well in only 90 seconds.

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"Dogboy" dir: Ed Edwards

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/film/dogboy/

A man finds a dog mask, puts it on and becomes a dog. He finally wakes up not knowing what happened to him, and the mask is passed on.

The opening music for this short was great, and really set the scene. The idea is creative and quite unique. I didn't think the acting was great, but it still conveys the story which overall is entertaining. Shot in black and white the visual contains good light contrasts, but i'm not really sure whether black and white really adds anything, other than making it less silly?

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"Smooth Line" dir: Declan Taaffe

I quite enjoyed this short. The plot was clever and the script was well written. Guy meets girl, guy tries to impress girl, guy goes too far! The title is played off on both the train ride and his chat up line, which is quite clever. The acting was good too. The camera work and sound was well edited, and overall the story worked very well as a short.

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"Fishtale" dir: Darmar Baumunk

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/film/fishtale-2/

1. Girl wakes up on a beach

2. Girl walks into a fish and chip shop

3. Girl returns to the sea and is secretly a mermaid.

dun dun duhhhhh.... This was quite an obvious plot. The camera work was interesting, and the light source was very fresh. But I'm not really sure that i understood the significance of the side plot with the salt and pepper shakers and the shop keeper with the knife? was it really just meant to imply she thought he would fry her up?

I did think this one really held it's own.

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"Bounce" dir: Mark Weeks

http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/films/film/bounce-4/

I found this animation quite fun. It was silly but enjoyable. It starts with rabbits bouncing, which was probably the wrong opening in my opinion, because then it moves onto the professor. I think this should have been the other way around. Because after this the professor proceeds to make 'bunny juice' and finally turns into a rabbit.

The animation is very basic, and i'm not sure whether it was just my connection, but the audio was out of sync too.

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"Fantaisie in Bubblewrap" dir: unknown

I Personally thought this was a bad example of a short film. The concept was good, but in general i thought this was put together in terrible way.

It starts with talking bubblewrap and the development is the bubblewrap being popped, ending with it being thrown away. In my opinion i thought it was horrible, and to my own disgust it succeeded in making me never want to pop bubblewrap again.

The footage and animation were of poor quality and the sound was irritating. I forced myself to sit through it.

I saved my favourites for last:

"The Girl with the Yellow Stockings" dir: Grzegorz Muskala

What I love about this short is the playfulness that develops within the story. Boyfriend proposes to Girlfriend, she repeatedly turns him down. Their physical relationship then progresses through various stages of childish playfulness to forceful violence, and back. The viewer is unsure how to feel observing this.

The film is also shot beautifully. I personally feel as though it works better for being subtitled too.

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"Who's Gonna Save My Soul" Dir: Chris Milk

This must have been a well written script, the dialogue in it is fabulous. Again, a romantic storyline, this time a couple breaking up. The effects in this short really add to the feel of the piece. It's sentimental, strong, and soulful (In more ways than one, thank you Knowles Barkley).

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"Light" dir: Dan Rubottom

This short shows the different perspectives of city life. Theoretically through two men and their narratives, but visually through the city itself. It is visually beautiful and I thought the soundtrack was apt. The start, development and end of the film are all linked. There is no twist, just reflection. I thought it was well scripted, repetitive... but what i enjoy most about this one is the way it was shot. Different camera angles gave 'physical' perspectives to the narratives.

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"Luv Deluxe" dir: Saman Keshavarz

From the dozen or more shorts that I viewed, I enjoyed this one the most. The start of the film links in full circle with the end, but where the story begins is 'some' guy leaving home. We assume the character is male because it's all shot from his eye view. The film begins to develop when he meets a girl and their companionship forms. What follows are the parallel roads their journey could take. However the ending for all three paths is still the same and they end up shooting each other.

This film was much faster paced than most of the others i watched, and again i was really impressed by the visuals and audio. The light contrasts are well done and i found it very easy to watch.