Short Films

The Black Hole



This short film is about a man who works in an office and comes across a photocopy of a big black circle. The subtext of the narrative is about greed. The man realises that things disappear when put through this black hole and he puts the paper onto the office safe and starts taking the money. He then crawls into the safe and gets stuck. The moral of the story is that greed will you land in trouble. The office is typically portrayed as dull with plain colours and a blue filter over the camera and the man looks typically bored at his office job.


Occupied



The short film 'Occupied' is about a girl on an aeroplane who is desperate to have a cigarette. She locks herself into the toilet and we are shown a montage sequence of the things she has hidden about her person in order to disable the smoke alarm, block the vents and put her Zippo lighter together


LOVEFIELD




This film was directed by someone called Mathieu Ratthe. This film contains the element of surpirse. Ratthe described this film by saying "Lovefield combines elements of horror, suspense and drama to create a story that takes the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotions." The short film demonstrates how music can create tension and it plays a big part in convincing the audience to feel different emotions. Mathieu Ratthe obviously had more of a budget when creating this short film and therefore could afford to spend money on a crew and on special effects. The narrative of this story is leading the audience to believe one thing when actually the complete opposite is happening. This film could also be an example of Claude Levi-Strauss's approach to narrative with the use of binary opposites; the idea of death vs birth. The narrative uses the enigmatic code, a simple story which turns out to be a guy who finds a woman having a baby. The cornfield and black crow usually signify a horror film as you imagine deserted ranches with strange people who live on their own, isolated from the world. The man in the film is dressed in a way that fits this stereotype as he is dressed in a pair of dirty overalls with a vest underneath. The fact that we see a dirty foot and the phone beeping leads the audience to believe that someone has been murdered. However, this turns out to be quite the opposite


Lucky



Narrative: The narrative is simple yet effective. It starts by a man in the back of the car tied up in ropes tying to escape, when he finally manages to get out and jump on top of the room, we see him struggling to now catch his balance and get inside the car, once he smashes the window and gets inside the car he manages to get control of the wheel and turn the car around, but as he finally stops the car by turning the engine off, we see the car explode while the man is inside. The short film uses Todorov's approach to narrative; the use of equilibrium and disequilibrium.
Genre: Action/Thriller The film has a quick paced rhythm which helps get the audience involved and keep them interested.
Mise-En-Scene: The costume and make-up is used effectively as the mud, dirt and blood all over the characters face and body helps re-enforce the idea that he is being held against his will and suggests struggle. The props also help with the idea of kidnapping as the man is tied up in ropes in the back of a car which is an old western styled car which works well with the location. The setting is in the middle of a desert which immediately gives the film a creepy mood that keeps the audience on an edge, as we associate this setting typically being used in horror film, which also indicates something bad happening.
Sound: When the film opens, there is no digetic sound, but slowly the noise of the car engine is brought up before we have seen the car, and consequently this creates intrigue for the audience. Apart from this most of the sounds in the film and in keeping with the action we see on the screen.
Camera: The often hand-held camera creates a shaky image which gives the film a real-like feel, as well as a sense of urgency.


Post-it Love



Narrative: The narrative is very simple and basic, it's a typical shy boy meets shy girl situation, but the characters aren't able to express any real emotions s they do it through the use of post-it note of pictures.
Genre: A very simple romantic comedy
Location: a very simple and bland typical office for a boring 9-5 job.
Sound: Almost childish and youthful music, which creates the feel of a TV advert. The music dominates the film acting as one of the main factors.
Camera: The camera work helps to re-enforce the idea of a bland boring office setting, it's static and keeps everything simple.
Bitch



The genre of the film 'Bitch' is a comedy. The narrative of the film is a boy shopping. The casting uses Levi-Strauss's approach of binary opposites. The film also uses Todorov's theory of narrative. The beginning is the single man shopping, the middle is the woman showing the photo of her son and the end is the realisation of what the woman has done. It is the suspense of disbelief which holds the audience. The woman gets away with doing something that would never happen in everyday life. The camera shows an over the shoulder dialogue sequence with close ups and shallow depth of field. The framing is using a wide angle. The film's credits reinforce the film's genre and are done in a receipt style supporting the storyline.