Unit 16 Short Film option

Creative Media BTEC Sub Dip final major project

Short Film option for Editing techniques Unit 16

Short Film is an excellent text to make in order to use a variety of editing techniques for your Unit 16 as it allows you a really free rein to experiment.

The short film can be loosely defined as any film shorter than feature length made for exhibition on the cinema screen.

Short films are usually associated with a restricted audience: in particular, they tend to be exhibited at Film Festivals, Art House Cinema seasons, or late at night on Channel 4 (e.g. 3 minute wonder). Unlike most mainstream films, they are not considered to be commercially viable and require private funding or funding from a Film Commission which believes in supporting new talent, such as the New Zealand Film Commission

The statements below will show you several approaches to defining short films, though some share common factors:

• ‘Short film defines itself as ‘other’ to the accepted feature format…Apart from that, I imagine there are as many short film definitions as there are short films. They can be anything, but not a ‘feature’ film.’ (Stephen McGlashan, filmmaker/ producer)
   
• ‘It has to be able to get the message/ideas across a lot faster.’
• ‘An idea that is created and lasts for 2-15 minutes.’
   
• ‘A simple, self-contained story, no great development of characters…Usually very few characters introduced.’

 

• An opportunity for the film maker to communicate their ideas concisely. By that I mean there is no extra information. Everything is there for a reason and there is no padding.’

 

• ‘Similar to a short story. Sometimes with a surprise ending.’

 

• ‘An intense piece of time – usually deals with one idea and expresses it fairly directly.’

 

• ‘An expression of an idea on a shorter scale. Often expressive and tends towards the abstract.’

 

Clearly, a short film cannot entertain complex plots or develop characters in any depth. Through its form and structure, however, it can achieve remarkable brevity and make concise observations on the world.

 

When planning to make a short film, it is useful to consider carefully the kind of narrative conventions you will use. Typically, short films contain a surprising twist or enigma. They need to condense the narrative into a much shorter space of time than a feature length film, and therefore a lot of material will be elided (left out). They will often use highly stylised and creative types of camerawork and editing.

And there will be a limited number of characters and often a very limited amount of dialogue.

 

 

 

 

Narrative

Consider how the final part of the narrative relates to the rest of the film: Is resolution suspended? For what reasons might a director have created symmetry though imagery, sound or event?

 

 

Genre

Consider the use of familiar:

• iconography
• settings
• characters and roles
• situations/events/outcomes
• camera work, editing and sound
   
  Will you use a hybrid of genres? Will some recognisable conventions be changed or subverted? To what effect?
  Representation
  How will your film represent aspects of gender, class, race, age, region and sexuality? Consider:
• narrative roles
• relationships
• audience positioning through mise-en-scene, editing and sound
  What traditions and conventions will you change? To what effect?
  It would be very useful for you to research some short films, making notes on the narrative; genre; stylistic features (camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene) in order to inform your own ideas. You could include this research in your Contextual Study or in your Pre-production.
  You can view a range of short films made by A2 and AS film studies students on the MPA web page. You  can also find short films for your research here
• Virgin Media Shorts https://www.youtube.com/user/VirginMediaShorts
  Channel 4 Shorts http://www.channel4.com/programmes/shorts
  Films Short http://www.filmsshort.com/
  Or just type in Short Film to YouTube and see what you come up with. I would recommend that you view films which are no longer than 5 mins as your brief is to make a film which is 3-5 mins long.
  Good luck and have fun!